French Recruits - Moises Has A Boat

This one could be a difficult horse to try and place. A 4-year-old by Moises Has (as his name might suggest), he has joined Nicky Henderson for the new National Hunt season after making an impressive winning debut at Compiegne for Noel George and Amanda Zetterholm at the end of March in the Prix Master Bob. The timing of that win means he won’t be eligible for novice races in the UK after 30th November. So it seems highly likely that we may well see him in the early part of the season before that Novice status disappears with a view to getting more experience on to his CV before he is forced to take on more experienced rivals. He did everything right on his debut and once sent to the front with around 5 furlongs to run, he was completely in command and ultimately came nicely clear of the field. There is some substance to this form. The runner-up, Fiumiccino, had 3 wins on the Flat to his name and came into the Compiegne race in winning form having won at Fontainebleau over hurdles a fortnight earlier. If he were to be entered into a handicap in the UK, he would be running off a mark of 126 at present and having given him a 6.5 length beating, albeit in receipt off 2 kilos, I think a case can be made that Moises Has A Boat ran beyond a mark of 120 to make a winning debut under Kevin Nabet.

Moises Has won the G1 Prix Renaud Du Vivier in 2020, beating James du Berlais by a short-head and has made a promising start to his career as a National Hunt Sire. He’s produced 23 winners from 206 runners over hurdles in France, of which Boystone, Chic Me and Bourbon Has are perhaps the most promising. Moises Has A Boat is the first foal out of Galatee des Bordes (Buck’s Boum). She failed to finish either of her 2 starts over hurdles, but she is a half-sister to the Listed hurdle winner Adagio des Bordes and comes from the family of Kopek des Bordes. That name appearing on the pedigree, albeit a couple of generations back, may well have helped to swing the sale but having been sent off at odds of 3.1 PMU for his debut, it’s fair to say that Moises Has A Boat had clearly been showing the right signs at home and he was ridden accordingly.

I’ve recorded a time figure of 177 for this debut, which would be slightly above the par for the course at Compiegne and having put more than 6 lengths between himself and the runner-up, with a further 5 lengths back to the 3rd, there’s no doubt that the winner was the best horse in that Class 4 hurdle. Given his unbeaten profile and the fact that he has joined Nicky Henderson, he is unlikely to be much of a price when he makes his UK debut. However, he is certainly promising and until his form proves otherwise, I would imagine that Michael Blencowe and Nicky Henderson are of the opinion that he will prove to be a graded class performer this year.