| Course: WARWICK | Race date:14/01/06 | Race time:3:30 | Runners:5 |
| Race distance:3m½f | Going:Soft | Winners time:6m 33.20s |
| Horse | Jockey | Trainer | Stall | Weight | Age | RPR | OR | Odds | B High | B Ave | B Low | In run | Finished | Dist Behind |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Halcon Genelardais | Robert Thornton | A King | 11-5 | 6 | 147 | 0 | 5/1 | NA | NA | NA | NA | 1 | ||
| No Full | Mick Fitzgerald | P R Webber | 11-1 | 5 | 118 | 120 | 50/1 | NA | NA | NA | NA | 2 | 26 | |
| Rebel Rhythm | Dominic Elsworth | Mrs S J Smith | 11-10 | 7 | 113 | 0 | 11/4 | NA | NA | NA | NA | 3 | 13 | |
| Leading Man | Brian Harding | Ferdy Murphy | 11-13 | 6 | 107 | 132 | 14/1 | NA | NA | NA | NA | 4 | 9 | |
| Iris's Gift | A P McCoy | Jonjo O´Neill | 11-13 | 9 | 0 | 147 | 4/5F | NA | NA | NA | NA | F |
Iris's Gift had jumped soundly enough for most of the race, but his tendency to get a bit low at his fences surfaced at the seventh last. He again brushed through the top of the fifth last before - in a virtual repeat of his schooling fall a week ago - he got in too close to the next, failed to get his landing gear down and paid the price.
Cheltenham Gold Cup dreams must surely be set aside after this and the horse allowed more time to get his act together before his confidence is seriously damaged. His rider Tony McCoy, commenting afterwards that "the horse must learn at some stage", suggested the Cotswold Chase at Cheltenham at the end of the month as a possible next target for him.
Trainer Alan King had been forced to throw Halcon Generardais in at the deep end due to a scarcity of novice chase options, and the horse did not let him down, jumping better as the race went on and ranging almost upsides Iris's Gift when that horse departed at the fourth last. McCoy was fairly convinced Iris's Gift would have won had he stood up, and Halcon Generadrais was certainly a tired horse in the straight, but this was an excellent start for him and he will be aimed at the Royal & SunAlliance Novices' Chase at Cheltenham - provided the ground is soft.
Rebel Rhythm, who had mademost at Wetherby last time and did not have a lot to beat that day, with two of the four runners failing to complete, possibly paid for tracking the early pace set by Iris's Gift and his chance had gone a long way out.
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