Jonjo O’Neill Jr – Challow Hurdle for Mister Meggit, Betfair Hurdle for Roadlesstravelled

Jonjo O’Neill Jr believes Newbury is the next destination for exciting novice hurdlers Mister Meggit and Roadlesstravelled as they head towards the Challow Hurdle and the Betfair Hurdle respectively. 

Mister Meggit was last seen effortlessly winning at Aintree in November, while Roadlesstravelled recorded a quick treble with wins at Market Rasen, Wetherby and Haydock. 

O’Neill Jr said: “Mister Meggit has done good things on the track; never shows anything at home but he’s very talented. He looks like he’ll probably be a stayer, I would imagine he’ll go straight to the Challow Hurdle, we probably won’t be able to get a run into him before then, he likes spaces between his runs and I don’t think he needs another race with a penalty. He is very straight-forward, and we’ll probably have a crack at the Challow. 

“I was very happy with Roadlesstravelled. I was a little concerned heading into the race because of the ground, he’d won the two races previous on good, so it was a slight worry, but it was worth a nice pot and we said we said we’d have a go. 

“He’s got a good way of racing, he puts horses under pressure early on. I felt his jumping could have been a little slicker, but I was pleased with how he battled to the line and I think the horse we beat is nice too. We’ll probably look at something like the Betfair Hurdle in the Spring, I’d say he’s done his winning for now as he doesn’t want very heavy ground. 

Starting the season in good form

The team have started the season in good form and they’ll be hoping some of their more talented horses can exploit some generous handicap marks.

O’Neill Jr gave updates on them, saying: “Crebilly was disappointing at Chepstow. He had a couple things that weren’t quite with him when he came back, so there are excuses with that run. He’s probably going to be seen over Christmas back over fences.

“Iron Bridge did well last year, he was running in all the tough races, second in the Welsh National, third in the Grand National Trial at Haydock, he loves the mud and the long distances, but they are hard races. He was able to creep down the weights and get into a 0-135 at Carlisle off top weight and ran very well on ground that wasn’t slow enough for him. The plan is the Becher Chase at Aintree and we were very encouraged by his comeback run.

“Springwell Bay was very good at Chepstow, he does stay three miles like he did at Musselburgh, but he does need a real end-to-end gallop. He doesn’t really want to be in front so it makes it difficult with what we are going to do. 

“It ended up being a sprint the last day at Cheltenham, and we missed the second last which put him out the race. Overall, we were pleased with the run, but he probably wants a really strongly run two mile four. The Kauto Star at Christmas is an option and also a valuable handicap at Cheltenham New Years Day.”

O’Neill Jr has built a good relationship with powerful owner JP McManus and is the regular pilot for exciting prospects Iroko and Jagwar, who are based at the Greenall and Guerriero yard. 

Iroko is a horse you look forward to riding

He gave his thoughts on Iroko’s narrow second at Haydock and Jagwar’s back-to-back victories at Wetherby and Bangor-On-Dee. 

He said: “Iroko ran well, it was very soft ground and probably heavy by the time the race started. Hard on horses first time out and he is still inexperienced, he’s only had three runs over fences before then, and Trelawne is a very good horse on soft ground.

“I actually felt I had him beat coming over the last, but he battled back and he was going away again at the line. I was happy with my lad and he was just beaten by a better one on the day. 

“He jumps well, isn’t keen and is very straight-forward, he’s a horse you look forward to riding.

“Jagwar is also nice, he did a lot of things wrong at Wetherby the time before and this time at Bangor it wasn’t as straight-forward of a ride because we couldn’t just drop him right at the back. There was a lot of runners and I just wanted to get him jumping and settle. 

“I was unsure of the form when he won at Wetherby, but I think there is depth in this latest race, the horse he beat the Phillip Hobbs yard is well handicapped and will probably win next time out, so I am pleased with the form and as long as he settles, he gives himself a chance of being a nice horse.”