A small but select field of five runners will head to post on Sunday for the BetGoodwin National Spirit Hurdle worth £80,000 and run over 2m3f, including the enigmatic Goshen who won his first ever race over hurdles at this track as a juvenile.
Goshen’s trainer, Gary Moore, won this Grade 2 contest last year with Botox Has and also back in 2017 with Camping Ground. The seven-year-old is the joint-highest rated horse (OR 156) in the race with veteran Sceau Royal.
The Isaac Souede & Simon Munir-owned 11-year-old will be making his 50th start under rules. He has been a credit to connections running at the top level and winning seven graded races throughout the course of his career. Trainer Alan King is looking for a third National Spirit Hurdle, having also won it twice before with My Way De Solzen (2006) & Trenchant (2010).
Not since Vagador in 1990 has a horse regained this race but Brewinupastorm will be looking to do just that. He has was touched off narrowly by Botox Has in this last year and has undergone wind surgery since his latest start at Cheltenham on New Year’s Day.
Champion Trainer Paul Nicholls’ last tasted National Spirit Hurdle success in 2017 with Old Guard, and his Knappers Hill is turned out quickly again after he finished runner-up in the Elite Hurdle last weekend. Harry Cobden is back in the saddle this Sunday, and the seven-year-old meets Sceau Royal for the first time since he beat him in the Elite Hurdle earlier in the season.
Proschema completes the line-up on what represents his first start for three months after he was pulled-up in the Long Distance Hurdle (G2) at Newbury. He had posted a career-best prior to that when storming home in the West Yorkshire Hurdle (G2) by 10-lengths.
Gates open at 11:30am and the going is currently described as Good. Proceedings get underway at 1:30pm with the final race due off at 4:30pm.
