Coral Finale Juvenile Hurdle (G2)
The unseasonably good ground at Chepstow clearly had an effect on this contest. Firstly, Nicky Henderson’s Manlaga was a Non-Runner. She had been a very impressive winner on her debut at Auteuil back in March and would have helped to add some further context to this form. Secondly, the well-backed favourite Macktoad clearly didn’t handle the conditions. There may well be more to this than just the fast ground, as his victory in an AQPS Flat race at Vichy last Summer came on ground with a penetrometer reading of 3,4, which is the equivalent to Good ground in British terms. He was so impressive at Sandown earlier this month when he was comfortably 4 lengths clear of Kaldoun des Rocs and 6 lengths ahead of Klycot, the fact that the form has been reversed here and by such a wide margin is more than enough for me to put a line through this run. Macktoad made some significant errors over the first few obstacles, losing an average of 14.9% of his speed over his hurdles in the early stages of the race and he didn’t ever really recover from that. Kaldoun des Rocs was outpaced down the hill before running on, albeit a long way behind the first 2 and even a brief examination of the data would suggest that neither of them were able to run their races. Josh Moore told the Stewards that he felt Macktoad had lost his confidence over his obstacles after being tightened up at the first hurdle and that he jumped poorly thereafter. That seems the most likely explanation for this effort and the fact that the Vet also reported that Kaldoun des Rocs made a respiratory noise when examined after the race would raise some further doubts.
It might be easy to assume that Macktoad failed to run his race and as such this form isn’t anything out of the ordinary, but I don’t think that would be a fair reflection on the performance of the winner, Tenter Le Tout. Chester Williams filly had been a comfortable winner at Exeter in November and that form had already been franked by the 3rd placed horse (Apollon Forlonge) who won on his next start at Taunton. On both occasions Tenter Le Tout had the best late speed figure in the field and she could be called the winner by the time she jumped the 2nd last on Saturday afternoon. A winning time of 3:53.00 made this the fastest winning time in the Juvenile Finale in the last 20 years. That’s hardly surprising given the underfoot conditions and when we compare this race to the opening Novice hurdle won by the very impressive Mossy Fen Road, the fact that Tenter Le Tout was over 6s slower despite carrying 13 lbs less gives a much better assessment of the time figure these juveniles produced. However, having traveled strongly and put in the best jumping display in the field, Tenter Le Tout did very little wrong as she pulled clear of Klycot in the closing stages, taking over a second out of him over the final 3 furlongs. Klycot did his best to repel her and to be fair to him, this was his 3rd start in the month of December and his 10th in 2025, but Tenter Le Tout was simply too fast. Her late speed figure of 30.73 mph was a clear best in this field (next best Klycot 29.2 mph) and the further she went, the further clear she pulled. At 2.3 per second, she had the highest peak stride frequency average in the field and that turn-of-foot will always give her a chance in these races, especially on quicker ground.
There’s a definite note of caution needed with this form. Macktoad was so impressive at Sandown that it is hard to believe that he was anywhere near that level of form here. However, whilst this probably wasn’t the greatest renewal of the race and Tenter Le Tout is unlikely to be a Triumph Hurdle contender on the back of this performance, she is a very likeable filly with a very good turn-of-foot and there is a good program for fillies like her at pattern level over the months ahead.