Don Lockwood Sidney Banks Memorial Novices’ Hurdle
"Act of Innocence"
When Act of Innocence was beaten by Minella Yoga at Newbury in December, there was a slight sense that the bubble had burst. He was conceding a lot of weight to Paul Nicholls 4-year-old and the post-race comments from Nicholls, a former trainer of Act of Innocence, probably made the result into a bigger story than it needed to be. Conceding 20 lbs to Minella Yoga was a difficult task, but he was just 0.35s slower than the winner over the final quarter of a mile and the pair were 12 lengths clear of the rest. Minella Yoga ran well enough in the Triumph Hurdle trial behind Maestro Conti at Cheltenham last month to suggest that he will be a decent prospect in time and so conceding 20 lbs, when less than a length behind, was still a decent effort from Act of Innocence. Nicky Henderson chose not to run him in the Grade 2 Novices’ Hurdle at Cheltenham which was perfectly understandable in the rather unique circumstances that surrounded that race and as a result, the racegoers at Huntingdon were the beneficiaries once he was re-routed to the Sidney Banks Memorial on Thursday. An argument could perhaps be made that he would have benefitted from some experience at Cheltenham, but Henderson used this race to prepare Shishkin for the Cheltenham festival as a novice hurdler and Act of Innocence definitely jumped into the spotlight after a superb display on Thursday afternoon.
I have included the sectional time comparisons from Huntingdon because I think that they best summarise how impressive Act of Innocence was. Nico de Boinville seemed very keen to keep him wide, presumably in search of better ground and as a result, Act of Innocence was always 2 or 3 widths outside of the racing line throughout the contest.
Despite the inevitable extra ground that he covered as a result, he was the fastest horse in the race with a top speed of 34.58 mph. Once into the home straight and levelled up for the run to the line, he quickened readily to run the fastest final 3 furlongs in the contest, recording a late speed figure of 31.30 mph. That’s not easy to do in soft conditions and when compared to the other winners on the card, he was effectively 28-30 lengths quicker than both races over the final mile. That may well be expected given that the other winners had official ratings of 109 and 92, but this was an emphatic difference and bodes well for the stiffer challenges that lie ahead. Act of Innocence hit the line strongly after being driven into the last by Nico de Boinville. He responded readily and galloped on to record a run-out speed of 30.11 mph, the only horse to top 30 mph once across the line. His connections have the impressive Old Park Star for the Supreme and the form of the runner-up (Glance at Midnight) does tie in with him. It seems unlikely that the pair will line up in the same race at the festival, but win a race run at a decent pace considering the conditions, Act of Innocence showed plenty and finished the race in the manner of a horse who had more left in the tank had it been required.
If he is to be competitive with the market leaders in the Turners Novices’ Hurdle in a month’s time, then he needed to win this race and do so impressively. That box has definitely been ticked now and the data backs up the visual impression that this was a dominant display from the 6-year-old son of My Dream Boat. For what it’s worth, I was suitably impressed and had a small each-way investment for Cheltenham. I would at least put this performance on a par with the effort of No Drama This End in the Challow at Newbury. That’s a slightly bold statement given the Challow was a Grade 1 and this was only a Listed contest, but they both ran on the same day in December so we can make a comparison between the pair. Although in races run at different speeds and over a different trip, the direct comparison shows that Act of Innocence recorded both a longer average stride length and a faster late speed figure than No Drama This End. It’s a minor point, but I felt at the time that the Challow Hurdle had been a slowly run affair (a finishing speed of 113% confirmed that) and there would be an angle to take on the Nicholls horse in a better race. Clearly, there are several Irish runners who have thrown their hat into the ring, but the race should be run to suit Act of Innocence and everything he produced at Huntingdon would support his case.