Nicky Henderson five-year-old made it two from two over hurdles
On The Blind Side threw his name into the Albert Bartlett hat with a smart performance in the Grade 2 Ballymore Novices’ Hurdle on Friday afternoon. Staying on strongly up the famous Cheltenham hill, the five-year-old looked every inch the stayer after initially being outpaced as the field quickened round the back straight.
Poetic Rhythm and Momella looked to have it between them jumping the last but Nico de Boinville roused his mount up the home straight and despite still showing some signs of greenness, they eventually pulled clear to win by an ever-increasing 2 ½ lengths.
With a sustained late run On The Blind Side maintains his unbeaten record under a patient Nico de Boinville pic.twitter.com/uYbTIId13f
— CheltenhamRacecourse (@CheltenhamRaces) November 17, 2017
The performance certainly impressed bookmakers with one firm cutting the Henderson horse into as short as 10/1 for the Festival in March before easing him back out to 14’s. Oddschecker punters were also keen on what they saw with 43% of all ante-post bets on Friday for the Alan Spence-owned horse.
