Western Morning News (Saturday)
ALL THE RUNNERS & RIDERS FOR THIS WEEKEND
SOME Chaos should reign at Doncaster in the Virgin Bet Free Bets For Winners Handicap Hurdle.
As Cheltenham draws ever nearer, today’s cards centre on feature races largely populated by horses who will be skipping the Festival and in several cases instead fine-tuning preparations for Aintree next month.
Doncaster’s Virgin Bet Grimthorpe Handicap Chase is a case in point, as is the Listed bet365 Premier Chase on a fine card up at Kelso.
Away from those eyecatchers, though, Some Chaos has been found an opportunity to slip under the radar.
Armed with 20lb of leeway between his chasing and hurdles rating, he puts the natural order to the test off bottom weight on Town Moor.
Trainer Michael Scudamore has yet to be rewarded when he has tried to take advantage of the anomaly in Some Chaos’ two marks – and an initial reading of bare facts suggest the ten-yearold is simply better over fences.
This time, however, Some Chaos will be granted his favoured good ground – and logically, he ought to be at least as good over hurdles, because he is often clumsy at his fences and loses telling momentum.
In the Grimthorpe, Beware The Bear has top weight, but races from 7lb below his peak rating only five starts ago and may be up to the task against a field which lacks the anticipated depth in the absence of National favourite Cloth Cap, who instead heads up to Kelso – although Two For Gold may be a tough nut to crack in the Premier Chase up in Scotland.
PAUL Nicholls fires a twin assault in his bid for a 10th victory in the BetVictor Gold Cup at Newbury this afternoon (1.50pm).
In the 15 years since the Ditcheat handler first landed the prestigious chase with Cornish Sett, he has added to his tally with the likes of Big Fella Thanks (2010), Pacha Du Polder (2013) and San Benedeto (2019).
Nicholls said: “The race fits in with the programme for horses that don’t go to Cheltenham and like nice ground.
“It is good prize-money and a nice race to run in.”
The trainer’s chief contender appears to be Grand Sancy, who makes his handicap debut over fences in the hands of Bryony Frost.
An impressive winner of a Listed novice chase at Chepstow in October, the seven-year-old was disappointing when a hot favourite for the Grade Two Rising Stars Novices’ Chase at Wincanton the following month and has not been seen since.
“He won impressively at Chepstow before a blip at Wincanton,” Nicholls told Betfair.
“I’ve held him back for the spring because he can’t handle the type of deep mid-winter ground we’ve had over the past three months.
“We know Grand Sancy goes well fresh, he will relish the ground, the trip is right and his best form has been racing left-handed, so he has loads in his favour.”
The other Nicholls-trained runner in a 14-strong field is top-weight Capeland, ridden by Daryl Jacob.
“While this horse can handle most types of ground, it is fair to say he is hard to place because he is on a stiff enough handicap mark,” the trainer added.
David Pipe saddles Umbrigado, who is bidding to complete a hat-trick following wins at Fontwell and Wetherby since the turn of the year, while Emma Lavelle’s Killer Clown appears for the first time since scoring at Kempton on Boxing Day.
Windsor Avenue is an interesting northern challenger for Brian Ellison – the nine-year-old was runner-up to the top-class Imperial Aura on his first outing at Carlisle, although he has failed to rediscover that form since.
Alan King’s Senior Citizen, the Nicky Henderson-trained Pistol Whipped and The Big Bite from Henry Oliver’s yard also feature.