Thorney trainer’s Chic Avenue in action at big Cheltenham meeting on Saturday, disappointment for Fransham on Friday

The four-year-old was third on debut at Wetherby in December, staying on strongly to fill the placings, only beaten a length. That was an interesting performance and augured hope for more progress. Chic Avenue was then ninth in a competitive Listed event at Cheltenham when last seen having struggled to land a blow in the event.

Always towards the back of the field, the jockey reported that the bit had slipped and that it had taken about half a furlong to reposition it back into the mouth of the filly. This therefore highlights that the run was clearly better than showed due to the problems faced and with that in mind Chic Avenue could be an interesting contender for this event.

A 33/1 chance with Betfair, the Listed contest features Nell’s Bells who scored at Carlisle in fine fashion in December by 17 lengths. Other leading contenders include Hidden Beauty who scored on debut in fine fashion at Ffos Las in November and the progressive Flirtatious Girl who was a dual winner last term.

Another fascinating runner is Nos Na Gaoithe who represents Willie Mullins in this event. Successful at Sligo in August, he was fifth when last seen in Listed company at Navan. She remains open to more improvement along with fellow last time out scorers Mullenbeg and Fairy Gem.

Sly was also represented at Doncaster on Friday afternoon courtesy of Fransham. However, he was badly impeded by the fall of Moonlight at the first fence in that event. The eight-year-old was always on the back foot after that mistake and he finished last of the six runners who completed. This is an easy performance to forgive Fransham for given the intereference he suffered at the first fence. Dropped back down in grade, his mark of 139 remains workable and he should be winning races in the near future.

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