John Ingles provides an overview of the key things to note on the racing front on Thursday.
Potential bonanza for Skeltons at Newcastle
Dan Skelton has a 26% strike rate with his runners at Newcastle over the last five seasons but that could well be looking healthier still after Thursday’s meeting there. With brother Harry in the saddle, Skelton has a runner in six of the eight races and it’s not out of the question that they could land at least the first three races on the card, all of them maiden hurdles.
In the first division of the two-mile contest (11:55), the stable’s Beau Quali is clear top by 5 lb in the Timeform weight-adjusted ratings. The ex-French five-year-old has found one too good in three of his four starts over hurdles, most recently in a similar event at Kempton on Boxing Day when beaten by Nicky Henderson’s hurdles debutant Kientzheim, and he looks to have been found a good opportunity to open his account.
Division two of the same event (12:25) looks a weaker contest, and as such it can go to Queens Wish who makes her Rules debut for Skelton here. She joined the yard for €140,000 after winning her sole outing in Irish points last April and the half-sister to Kerry National winner Potters Point makes plenty of appeal in a race that shouldn’t take much winning.
The one with the most promise though is Juventus de Brion in the two and a half mile maiden hurdle (13:00). He shaped well behind a couple of useful types at Ascot on his final start last season and, after falling at the first in the Persian War Novices’ Hurdle on his return at Chepstow, he finished with running left when runner-up in a maiden at the same track last time. He remains with potential and should take all the beating in a first-time tongue strap.
Later on the card, stablemates Reilly (13:35) and Blue Carpet (15:54) aren’t without chances either in the novice handicap chase and bumper respectively.
Lark can continue Ascending at Ludlow
Harry Derham has had mixed fortunes in recent months, having had to resurface his gallop following storm damage at the end of November which resulted in a quiet spell before Christmas, but a double at Doncaster late last month and another winner at Musselburgh on New Year’s Day shows that the yard’s horses remain in good form.
Another who can help boost the stable’s fortunes is Ascending Lark in the mares’ handicap hurdle at Ludlow (15:00), a track where Derham has had a couple of winners from just six runners to date. The elder half-sister to recent Leopardstown Grade 1 winner Romeo Coolio, Ascending Lark initially failed to confirm debut promise in Irish bumpers but on joining Derham won both her starts over hurdles last spring, following up a maiden win at Haydock with a cosy success in a novice at Huntingdon.
It looks significant that she’s been entered for the former Betfair Hurdle at Newbury next month and looks to be starting life in handicaps from a good mark of 113 which makes her top on Timeform weight-adjusted ratings with the promise of further improvement to come.
Take youth over experience in Somerset National
Wincanton’s Somerset National (15:45) looks a cracking mid-week handicap chase even if it’s a bit on the short side for a ‘National’ at not much more than three and a quarter miles, and it makes a welcome return after being lost to the weather for the last couple of seasons. Among some familiar names in a line-up where all ten runners are wearing headgear of one sort or another are former Welsh Grand National runner-up The Big Breakaway and last season’s Classic Chase winner My Silver Lining, who goes well at Wincanton, while Credo, Take Your Time and Sizable Sam are all course winners too.
But in a largely exposed field it’s the two seven-year-olds who top and tail the handicap who look the most interesting contenders. David Pipe won the last running of the Somerset National in 2022 with El Paso Wood and has good claims again with top weight King Turgeon who is unbeaten in three starts this season. He won the Grand Sefton over the National fences at Aintree in between wins at around today’s trip at Chepstow and Cheltenham and is likely to go well again, though another 6 lb rise in the weights demands further improvement.
He may therefore have to give best to another progressive young chaser at the other end of the weights. Katate Dori was a maiden over hurdles but has won both his chases for the in-form Sam Thomas this month, landing conditional jockeys’ handicaps on heavy ground at Exeter and Chepstow just four days apart. A good test of stamina over fences clearly suits him well and following his comfortable win last time he can improve further and complete a quick hat-trick, heading the Timeform weight-adjusted ratings.
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