Hold on Julio earmarked for Cheltenham

It is not often that you witness a top class handicap chase won so impressively as January’s HBLB Handicap Chase at Sandown. Alan King’s Hold on Julio raced clear between the last two fences in spite of being raised 13lb for his previous course and distance victory as well as carrying 3lb more for being out of the handicap. Chasing him home at a respectful distance was Neptune Collonges, conceding 26lb and a veteran of four Cheltenham Gold Cups. The problem now for his trainer is that the cat is very much “out of the bag” as far as his ability is concerned and he can expect no mercy from the handicapper after such an easy victory in a £50,000 race.

It is only natural that the first place you want to target with any horse that wins impressively at this time of year is the Cheltenham festival in March. Alan King has stated that his obvious objective would be the 3 mile Festival Handicap Chase which King won last year with Bensalem, although he will probably have one more run before then. He has been introduced as favourite at 9-1 in the Cheltenham betting. Much will depend on how he is re-assessed by the handicapper as it is a big step up from carrying bottom weight at Sandown to attempting to defy another steep rise in the weights at the Cheltenham Festival. However, there are excellent reasons to believe that the horse has not stopped improving just yet.

Indeed, so impressed were some punters that there has been a little interest at odds in excess of 200-1 for the Cheltenham Gold Cup but he would have to do something spectacular in his next race to warrant an entry against the likes of Long Run and Kauto Star. A more realistic long-term objective is the bet365 Gold Cup at Sandown in April. He did make a couple of mistakes in his last race which made his finishing kick all the more remarkable.

Hold on Julio joined King after winning a hunter chase at Kelso in the spring and, with very few miles on the clock, he is clearly an exciting prospect for the rest of the season. The nine-year-old son of Blueprint has now won his last three races by an accumulative total of fifty lengths and his next appearance will tell us a lot more about his Cheltenham prospects.