Monkerhostin the pick of a classy field

Published on Friday 31 October 2008 20:32

OFFICIALLY, the new National Hunt season began 24 hours after the last one ended, but we all have our own ideas about when the annual renaissance of jump racing actually kicks in.

But no matter your timetable, once the Charlie Hall Chase rolls round, you know real racing is back on the menu, particularly when it shares the stage with the return to action of former Cheltenham Gold Cup winner Kauto Star at Down Royal.

Wetherby's showpiece contest hasn't attracted the biggest line-up in the world but the 90,000 event is normally more about quality than quantity so that's nothing new, and please don't be lured into a false sense of security by the smallish field.

The seven who go to post may not all be magnificent, but there's enough class among them to make taking on the bookies an interesting tussle.

Four of this afternoon's line-up met in the same contest a year ago, and if racing was an exact science, we'd be able to use all sorts of data and fancy formulae to figure out who's going to come out on top this time. I wish.

As horses tend to be unpredictable creatures, the fact that last year, Ollie Magern finished in front of State Of Play who in turn beat Monkerhostin with Turko pulled-up basically tells us hee-haw about today's race.

One thing we can be pretty sure of is that Mr Magern will run a big race as he's never done anything other than that on his three previous visits to the Yorkshire venue, all of which have resulted in victory. Two of those came in the Charlie Hall, and with trainer Nigel Twiston-Davies firing home winners as if they were going out of fashion, an unprecedented hat-trick cannot be dismissed out of hand.

Perhaps the most interesting runner in the race is State Of Play, who looked destined for big things when landing the Hennessy a couple of years back but, surprisingly, hasn't won since.

Evan Williams' gelding has a habit of going well when fresh, so this could be his time although reading between the lines of reports from his trainer, State Of Play might just need this outing to get him cherry ripe.

Fitness won't be a problem for Snoopy Loopy who chased home Knowhere at Aintree just six days ago, but two big races in less than a week may prove too much for Peter Bowen's runner so for this year's Charlie Hall hero we'll stick with Monkerhostin.

Given they tend to be few and far between, and then some, any Scotsman tip that obliges at 25-1, as the selection did when lifting Sandown's Bet365 Gold Cup last term, must be a highly talented individual, and although Richard Johnson's mount is getting a shade long in the tooth, he could still have enough spring in his step to land an extremely open looking contest.

Ascot's card is as problematic as it is enthralling, but until the jumping waters become slightly clearer, the best policy may be to side with trainers in form, and in that respect, few can keep pace with Twiston-Davies.

Its Crucial receives lumps of weight from his rivals in the Byrne Group Chase which might just enable him to get his head in front after a string of near things, while Pigeon Island and Fundamentalist can add to their trainer's recent purple patch.

Breaking Storm has been in excellent form and Kate Walton's five-year-old looks worth the nap in the last at Wetherby, particularly as Peter Monteith's talented claimer Ryan Mania reduces his mount's burden by what could be a crucial seven pounds.