Schoolwork paying dividends as Tazbar heads to top of class

A year ago, Keith Reveley's stable star was beaten by 60 lengths by Big Buck's in the Ladbrokes World Hurdle at the National Hunt Festival. He ran no sort of race, trailing home in 12th place.

Now he is one of the favourites for next month's prestigious RSA Chase, a potential stepping-stone to the Cheltenham Gold Cup, after recording his third win from four starts over the larger obstacles at Doncaster.

"The best horse in the North," said one prominent trainer after the race.

The reason for the eight-year-old's transformation?

According to Reveley, it is the training methods that his 20-year-old jockey son, James, has picked up while riding out each summer in France for the top trainer Guillaume Macaire.

"It has made such a difference," Reveley senior told the Yorkshire Post.

"The turnaround is largely down to James and all the schooling work he's done with Tazbar to get him ready for fences, which was the only option open to us.

"We do far more schooling than we used to – and it seems to be working. The key with this horse is his jumping."

Reveley, whose stables near Saltburn double up as a dairy farm, was a relieved man after Tazbar's emphatic victory at Doncaster.

"I'm glad it's over," said a typically reserved Reveley before acknowledging how Tazbar benefited from the positive front-running tactics adopted by Ferdy Murphy's highly-rated Bedlam Boy, who ultimately finished second.

"He's the best horse we've ever had as a family. I will enter him for the RSA Chase, but that race can turn into a slog if the going is soft.

"He will only run if I can be 100 per cent sure that the going is good and is to our liking. A race like this can ruin a horse and you don't want that with one that is something special."

BLUE Nymph, John Quinn's JCB Triumph Hurdle hope, takes the next step up the ladder at Market Rasen today.

The four-year-old filly made a super start to her jumps career when landing a tight novices' hurdle at Doncaster at the end of January.

Although she was under consideration for Sunday's Scottish Triumph Hurdle at Musselburgh, Blue Nymph will instead run in the racinguk.com Juvenile Novices' Hurdle at the Lincolnshire venue.

Malton-based Quinn said: "We were thinking about running her at Musselburgh, but Market Rasen will be absolutely fine. She's a grand filly and it will be good to get some more experience into her.

"I wouldn't think we'd run her again after that before Cheltenham."

Blue Nymph is generally available at 33-1 for the Triumph on March 19.

ANOTHER Yorkshire horse bound for Cheltenham is John Forbes, who gained his 12th career success under Keith Mercer when winning Musselburgh's toteexacta Claiming Chase on Sunday.

While the jumping of his rivals faltered, the eight-year-old put up a polished performance that has led to connections dreaming of bigger prizes. It was the in-form Richmond rider's 25th winner this season.

Trainer Brian Ellison, who named the horse after his father, said: "He will go for the Jewson Novices' Handicap at the Festival. I asked Keith if he would ride him at Cheltenham and he said he would ride him anywhere."

SIR Robert Ogden's Voy Por Ustedes takes a step back in trip on Saturday as he lines up in the Game Spirit Chase at Newbury.

With the select field due to include the nine-year-old's nemesis Master Minded, the dual Queen Mother Champion Chase winner, the race will determine the Cheltenham target for the Yorkshire businessman's racing star.

He is set to be ridden by trainer Alan King's stable jockey Robert Thornton, who should return to action tomorrow after sustaining a back injury a fortnight ago.

SUE Smith's stable stalwart Daldini (14-1) returned to winning ways when landing Southwell's 14,000 handicap chase for jockey Tjade Collier.