“Deserving” Broughton will get race run to suit in Triumph Hurdle

Newmarket-based trainer John Ferguson thinks Broughton has an outstanding chance of providing him with his first Festival winner in the Triumph Hurdle, and the stats suggest he has the perfect profile for the juvenile contest.

The son of Teofilio was a decent middle-distance performer on the flat when trained by Mark Johnston, and put up a promising effort on his hurdling debut for Ferguson when finishing second at Doncaster in December.

He then ran out the impressive winner of the Scottish Triumph Hurdle Trial at Musselburgh on his latest start, where he jumped particularly well and showed a smart turn of foot to beat Clarcam by five lengths.

Since then he has delighted his handler, who said: “Broughton deserves his chance in the Triumph, he’s impressed me. He should run well and the race will suit him. He’s in extremely good form and I’ve been delighted with the way he’s trained since his win at Musselburgh.”

As far as his profile is concerned, Broughton ticks plenty of boxes for the Triumph.

Seventeen of the last 20 winners had all won last time out, and eight of the last 11 winners have also made their debut from November onwards.

He is also officially rated 138 over hurdles, and the last eight winners had achieved that rating or higher.

The four-year-old was also rated 89 on the flat, and every winner of the Triumph since 1996 recruited from the flat scene has been rated 80+.

He also ran over 1m 4f on the level, and before Our Conor’s win 12 months ago the previous 14 winners of the race who had been campaigned on the flat had done so.

Another plus is that he had his final prep run in February, and that is something which 19 of the last 21 winners had on their CV.

His profile really is rock solid, and it’s easy to see why Ferguson believes he gives him his best chance of his first success at the Festival, where he has suffered a near miss before.

His New Year’s Eve was sent of the 9/2 favourite for the Champion Bumper in 2012, only to find the Willie Mullins trained Champagne Fever 1 1/4 lengths too good.