Grade Two Adonis Juvenile Hurdle Guide 2022

Unbeaten over hurdles to date, with two Grade 2's on his CV already. Knight Salute has been one of the UK's leading juvenile's this year, his form backs up that claim too.

He beat Porticello and Impulsive One on his last start, (both have one since), with the former running out a ready winner in a Grade 1 juvenile hurdle at Chepstow over Christmas.

Impulsive One won a listed race by 4L last time out and looks to turn the tables here. Knight Salute has been campaigned with a view to better ground, he gets Good To Soft at the time of writing.

He has beaten the right horses and looks to confirm the form with Impulsive One today. The horse they all have to beat.

A ready winner of the Scottish Triumph Hurdle last time out, he looks to have matured with each start over hurdles. He was only 3/4 of a length behind Grade 1 winner Porticello, with Knight Salute narrowly beating the pair.

Impulsive One will have to improve to reverse the form with Knight Salute but given the winning distances when they last clashed, he doesn't look like he has much to find.

Massive player in this with ground to suit.

An interesting recruit to hurdling, Pleasant Man is a McNeill Family owned Galileo Gelding, who had a mark of 93 on the flat when last seen, (peak rating 101).

On debut at Haydock, he beat no other than Pied Piper quite comfortably and competed at a high level thereafter.

Paul Nicholls often has his juveniles well schooled, with no form to go on in this sphere, he's hard to gauge, but could be a top class recruit to the NH scene.

A free going front runnerfor Lucy Wadham, Graystone has won two of his five hurdle starts. He fell on his penultimate run, when clear and in control at the last, so he quite conceivably could be a three time winner over hurdles.

His form is okay, but doesn't scream Grade 2 level. He beat the frustrating Message Personnel last time out with Fluerman back in third (won since).

He does seem to appreciate some cut in the ground though should be fine on this going. Up against it on bare form but might get an uncontested lead.

Dangerous.

Moka De Vassy was a distant second to the deeply impressive Pied Piper at Cheltenham last time out (9L). He travelled and jumped well, and clearly exceeded his market expectations at an sp of 50-1.

Prior to that run, he was third in a Newbury novice hurdle that's working out quite well.

Moka De Vassy is clearly still improving and he's relatively unexposed. He will need to improve a good bit again to get involved here, though he is well related and should relish this ground.

Definite place claims.

The outsider of the field. Patient Dream was a moderate horse on the flat, winning at Epsom in a decent race - earning an official mark of 89.

He's appeared three times over hurdles, in a few hot contests. He does seem to be prone to a race ending error though. He should appreciate the going but his jumping will need to improve dramatically.

Likely to find this too sharp.

Another hurdle debutant for Paul Nicholls, except this horse has been sourced from France.

He hasn't shown all that much thus far on the flat, but he has been bought for some shrewd owners and is related to some hurdle winners in France.

Rubaud is hard to recommend on the substance of his French form, but could be anything for top connections.

Teddy Blue recently finished second on hurdles debut in heavy ground at Lingfield. He was very keen that day and took up the running apparently travelling well off the bend, (trading very short in running), but ultimately paid the price for not settling and finished well beaten into second.

He should have learnt plenty for this experience and can be expected to improve a ton for a yard in fine form. 

A French recruit to hurdling for Venetia Williams, this son of Camelot won twice from 6 starts on the flat in France, on good to soft and soft ground.

Clearly versatile with regards conditions, for a stable in cracking form - The Famous Five might well outrun his odds.

Realistically will improve for this, hard to see him hitting the frame, although the stable does well with a horse with this profile.

Outran his odds when fourth on debut behind Porticello in a Grade 1 at Chepstow last time out. Although never threatening, Iroko ran a really nice race and looked to have learnt a fair bit on the way round.

That was a massive run on debut and his French form isn't too bad either. He's a lively each way player with the benefit of that Grade 1 experience.

The ground will be a small worry though - he's bred to want soft ground at the very least, with it being good to soft here, could things just happen a bit too quickly for him?

Big Boy Bobby was a relatively average horse on the flat (rated 76) and has placed, (2nd) on his two hurdle starts to date.

Alan King does seem to bring about major improvement with horses of this profile though, so could improve again.

On form, he's impossible to recommend - with his rivals here looking to be a class above, he is likely to find this very hard at this stage in his career over obstacles.