Ranjaan sparks Cheltenham hopes for Highclere Thoroughbreds

Highclere Thoroughbreds are better known for their exploits on the flat, notably through Derby winner Motivator and King George VI hero Harbinger, rated the best horse in the world after his sensational win at Ascot. However, the widening appeal of National Hunt racing through the increased prize money and top quality racing has encouraged Harry Herbert to take Highclere Thoroughbreds into this new sphere in the last couple of seasons. They would like nothing more than to win at the Cheltenham Festival in March 2012.

Having placed horses with Nicky Henderson, Paul Nicholls and Emma Levalle, they are clearly very serious about competing with the best. Among their novice hurdling recruits is Ranjaan. He was purchased at the 2011 Arqana Saint-Cloud Summer Mixed Sale and is by Dubai Destination out of a Darshaan mare. Ranjaan showed promised on the flat when trained by Mikel Delzangles and won two of his five races. He made a steady if unspectacular start to his new career with a modest second at Newbury after some sketchy hurdling and worse was to follow when he fell early on at Doncaster. Fortunately he came to no harm in that incident and reappeared at Kempton’s Christmas meeting on a recovery mission.

Settled off a modest early pace, Daryl Jacob was able to get him jumping well and he moved into contention in the straight before quickly asserting his superiority over Lemon Drop Red and drawing four lengths clear. Trainer Paul Nicholls was delighted with this effort and feels that he is improving all the time and that the Triumph Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival is a realistic objective and he is generally available at 16-1 in the Cheltenham betting. If he fails to impress on his next outing he could be re-routed to the Fred Winter Hurdle at the Festival.

Highclere have also got an exciting novice chaser on their hands in the form of Penny Max, trained by Emma Levalle. A couple of impressive wins at Newbury and Exeter mean that he is due for a rise in class shortly. Penny Max hails from the family of Four Trix who won the Scottish Grand National and Imperial Commander who won the Cheltenham Gold Cup. Whilst it is far too early to be aiming at races of that stature, it will be no surprise if Highclere Thoroughbreds are soon making their mark on the National Hunt scene and it may pay to follow their horses closely.