RSA Chase (Cheltenham March 12th)

0.5pt win Morning Assembly 25/1 L (20/1 Gen)

I was hoping to keep this one under my hat for a few more weeks – but Morning Assembly is due to run at Punchestown on Sunday and victory for him there, will doubtless see him move close to the top of the market for the RSA chase, so we need to act now…

A little like Defy Logic, Morning Assembly was a top novice hurdler in Ireland, last season…

He only ran 4 times during the campaign, and after finishing runner up on his debut at Leopardstown over Christmas, he went one better as Naas in January.

Although they were fair performances, they didn’t seem to mark Morning Assembly down as anything special and that seemed to be confirmed when he fell in the novice hurdle in which Defy Logic lost out to Mala Beach.

It was too early to be adamant, but Morning Assembly was well back and seemingly going nowhere when he came down that day.

Little surprise then, that he was sent off a relatively unconsidered 20/1 shot for the grade 1 staying novice hurdle at the Punchestown festival.

But what a revelation he was that day.

Always travelling nicely, he battled on well when challenged from 2 out and ended up a game winner from Inish Island and Ballycasey.

The former had finished third to At Fishers Cross at the Cheltenham festival on his previous outing; whilst the latter represented the powerful Willie Mullins yard and was backed into even money favouritism on the day.

In short, the form looks very good.

What also looked good, was the way that Morning Assembly navigated his hurdles.

He jumped them very accurately and there could be little doubt that if he jumped fences as well, he would be likely to make the grade in that discipline too.

Well, the test for his fencing ability came first time out this season, when he made his chasing debut in a very hot novice chase at Punchestown – and thankfully, he didn’t disappoint.
He jumped the fences in the same manner that he had jumped hurdles: neatly and accurately, which augurs well for his future in that arena.

Obviously there is a lot of water to still go under the bridge – but there can be little doubt that Morning Assembly is already a very good novice chaser and with only 5 outings over obstacles under his belt, he has the scope to become much better.

Furthermore, he has shown that he has a lot of natural ability and both his jumping and attitude seem rock solid.

At a best price of 25/1, even at this stage of the season, I feel we have to have him on board.

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