Wednesday 27 January 2021 13:33, UK
It's another fantastic weekend's racing and Alex Hammond looks ahead to the action from Doncaster and Cheltenham Trials Day.
Jumping fans, make sure you have plenty of provisions in the house, everyone else in the household is otherwise entertained and sit back and relax on Saturday to enjoy an abundance of top-quality racing at your fingertips.
I'm off to Doncaster for the Sky Bet Chase and this famous staying handicap is supported by a card worthy of its status. Cheltenham also host their Trials Day on Saturday, which does exactly what it says on the tin.
So what and who can you look forward to seeing?
Let's kick off with the Sky Bet Chase at Doncaster and there would be no better story than if Yorkhill were to win this for trainer Sandy Thompson and owners David Armstrong and Lee Westwood.
The turnaround in this horse's mind has been miraculous and Thompson and his team have worked wonders to help this former star fall in love the game again. It's not unusual for horses to fall out of love with racing, hence the phrase "a change is as good as a rest" being used frequently about rejuvenated horses, but he looked to be a long way down the road to retirement being the inevitable outcome before his stable switch.
The 11-year-old had won four Grade 1 races during his time with Willie Mullins and numerous other races besides, but his form had tailed off and a revival looked unlikely. However, his owners at the time, Andrea and Graham Wylie decided he might benefit for a change and gifted him to friends (the current owners) and that decision was justified as we saw with his enthusiastic victory in Newcastle's Rehearsal Chase on his second start for his new connections.
He was 66/1 that day, he won't be on Saturday. Anyone that follows the trainer's twitter account will see that the horses have a really varied routine with away days to the stunning hills around their Scottish Borders base and even seaside jaunts; no wonder he feels like life is good. Which of us wouldn't give our eye-teeth to head to the beach right now?
We don't know (at the time of writing) if he will go to Doncaster or take up his engagement in the Cotswold Chase at Cheltenham on the same day, but if he rocks up at Donny I hope we see him on a going day and he runs another cracker. He's 14/1 with the race sponsors and an added bonus is they are paying five places.
It's exciting to think that we may see Shishkin in the Grade 2 Lightning Novices' Chase at Doncaster too. Granted, his presence means it won't be a betting contest (1/4 fav), but to see a horse of his quality adds real stardust to the day.
Over at Cheltenham the aforementioned Cotswold Chase which looks as classy as you'd hope. The ground is going to be a slog, though, so make sure you take that into account.
It won't bother Bristol De Mai and he has plenty to recommend him. He comes here fresh having been given plenty of time to get over his exertions in the Betfair Chase two months ago.
He had to give Santini 2lbs when finishing runner-up to him in this race 12 months ago, but no such problems in 2021 and with uncertainty around Nicky Henderson's horse on very testing ground, I'm happy to stick with Nigel Twiston-Davies' wonderful grey.
Native River ought to be a real contender, but I can't help having little confidence at the moment as the stable struggle to get off the cold list. If they have numerous winners this week prior to Saturday I'll happily change my mind.
It's exceptionally frustrating for trainers when their horses are out of form and unfortunately it's just a waiting game. Things will turn back around for this top yard, but until they do I'm happy to sit and wait. There are other classy horses amongst the entries (including Yorkhill), but I'm afraid it's the 15/8 favourite that appeals most to me.
Paisley Park is another shorty I can't take on, so probably a watching brief in the Cleeve Hurdle as he's 1/2 favourite! Itchy Feet is an unknown rival for Paisley as he reverts to hurdles and steps up in trip for Olly Murphy. That makes him of interest, but he has plenty to find.
So that's a taster of what there is to surf through on a busy Saturday. I'll hopefully see you at Doncaster for all the action on Sky Sports Racing.
Incidentally, a horse that you should stick in your tracker following last week's racing is the Philip Hobbs-trained Jerrysback.
His trainer told us at Sky Sports Racing the day before his Ascot reappearance that he would most likely need the run after over a year off the track, but despite those misgivings, he ran a cracker in the 2m 5f handicap chase to stay on into third place behind Dashel Drasher.
You'd imagine something like the Kim Muir could be on his agenda at the Cheltenham Festival and he's currently 14/1 for that contest.
