Norton's Character Building goes for Cheltenham Festival repeat

10:45am Tuesday 16th March 2010

By Steve Carroll

CHARACTER Building is “in good form” ahead of his bid to win for a second time at the Cheltenham Festival, reckons his Norton-based trainer John Quinn.

The ten-year-old, North Yorkshire's big hope for the Grand National next month, runs in the William Hill Trophy this afternoon as the four-day Festival gets into gear at Prestbury Park.

Quinn's gelding produced a sensational performance when winning the Kim Muir Fulke Walwyn Challenge Cup here 12-months ago, but has only run once this season – at Doncaster over an inadequate trip when finishing well down the field.

While Quinn last week admitted it would be “stretching it” to think he could win at Cheltenham two years in a row, he also believed the improving ground would only aid Character Building's chances.

The official going at Cheltenham ahead of the first race was good to soft, good in places – with the turf only likely to get firmer with the Gloucestershire hills bathed in sunshine.

Quinn's regular rider, Dougie Costello, is in the saddle and the trainer says he is looking for a “good run” in what is an ultra-competitive handicap.

The three-and-a-half mile Grade 3 contest was won last year by Witchita Lineman after Tony McCoy produced one of the rides of the season and there are a host of horses with big reputations lining up once again.

Heading the market is Bensalem, for Alan King, who has yet to finish out of the first two in his career when completing the course and close behind is The Package, trained by David Pipe.

Character Building is generally rated by the bookmakers around the 12-1 mark, but is as short as 8-1 with SkyBet.

North Yorkshire's other hopes of claiming a first-day Festival success lie firmly with Ferdy Murphy.

The chief attraction of the West-Witton-based handler's dozen strong Cheltenham team, Kalahari King, runs in the Champion Chase tomorrow but Murphy saddles three runners this afternoon.

New Alco will be local opposition to Character Building in the William Hill Trophy with Murphy looking to get a run into the nine-year-old ahead of the Grand National, while Mister Wall Street competes in the Grade 3 Spinal Research Supreme Novices' Hurdle.

Murphy says he will be happy with a mid-division finish in a race where Hollins, for Middleham's Micky Hammond, also runs but would be a very surprising winner.

I'm Delilah is one of 12 runners in the Irish Independent Arkle Chase but, while an improving novice chaser, he will need to find a fair amount of improvement to top a star-studded bill which includes Captain Cee Bee, Somersby, Sizing Europe and Riverside Theatre.

Elsewhere, the highlight of a cracking six-race card is the Smurfit Kappa Champion Hurdle where a win for Go Native would see connections given a £1 million bonus by bookmaker WBX.

That was on offer for a horse which won the triple crown of the Fighting Fifth Hurdle, Christmas Hurdle and Champion HUrdle and, with two down, the speedy seven-year-old trained by Noel Meade could make it a wonderful day for the Irish.

With last year's top three of Punjabi, Celestial Halo and Binocular in the field again, joined by the likes of Solwhit and Zaynar, Go Native will come late under jockey Paul Carberry in what should be quite a finish.

And odds on favourite Dunguib will look to get Festival banker backers off to the best possible start when he goes for glory in the opening Supreme Novices Hurdle.