Hunter Chase - 5.00 Carlisle

[Darran]

To be honest this race won't really be missed if Carlisle gets called off in the morning. Road To Riches should be miles better than the rest of his rivals here. It was a solid enough Hunter Chase debut here 10 days ago in a much better race than this. If there was anything half decent to take him on I might have been tempted to have opposed him, but if he doesn't win this then they may as well retire him because he won't find an easier opportunity all season.

Settledoutofcourt is 2nd in the betting and he has been well beaten by Winged Crusader in three point runs this season, although got close last time. He has won here and on heavy ground so that should suit at least. Mr Pepperpot one his maiden last March, but has been fairly well beaten in 4 Restricted's since. He is 10 and has only had 7 starts, but if he is struggling to win a Restricted he might struggle to finish 2nd here. Tulsa Jack should be a non-runner as he doesn't have a jockey and he bled at Fakenham on Friday.

The outsider is Financial Climate which is slightly surprising as he won a Mens Open on his seasonal return which was his first run in a year. He didn't do too badly behind Road To Rome at Taunton when 4th, but his next two efforts haven't been great. I saw him at Didmarton earlier in the month and he was only 7th in a reasonable contest. What I will say though is this stiffer test of stamina should help.

If anyone sticks up distance betting then it might be worth having a go on that because Road To Riches has loads in hand over his rivals. If I had to pick a 2nd I would go with Financial Climate, but I couldn't put it up as bet.

Onto the Foxhunter review and I am so glad I changed my mind on Hazel Hill. I don't really know why I didn't fancy him in the first place because a year ago I Tweeted that instead of running at Towcester he should have been running the day after at Cheltenham. His owners thought it was a year to early so decided to wait another year which was a brave call given how little he has seen a racetrack, but it paid off. I think his run at Chaddesley put me off as I didn't think he was all that impressive that day and on reflection I was looking for things in the Warwick run that maybe wasn't there. It was the fast time he set that kept niggling away at me in the last couple of days before the race and that made me go back to thinking he could win this as I thought he could last year. It was a superb performance sitting a few places behind the strong pace and in the end he powered away on the run in after a mighty leap at the last. He is quite old at 11 to be winning this race, but he is an unusual 11yo and he must surely have a great chance of wining this next year. They are skipping Aintree, but Punchestown is an option and Stratford must surely be considered as well.

Shantou Flyer was much more prominent than I thought he would be, but Cheltenham seems to spring him to life as he travelled well and was just beaten by a better horse. He comes out with a lot of credit though and he had clearly improved a lot from the Warwick run behind the winner. He is only 9 and surely he will be back for more next year.

Top Wood ran a stormer as well considering he hadn't run since pulling up at Punchestown. That was the worry for me, but his jockey sensibly didn't try and take Road To Rome on and sat just off him. The fact he was making his seasonal debut was what put me off considering backing and arguably it was an even better than when he was just beaten in this last year. 

Road To Rome had the stamina question mark hanging over him and he didn't stay. He made the race though as he really strung the field out and it meant the best horses in the race came to the fore. The first 4 had the race between them from a long way out and it was all down to him. If he comes out of this well and he really does seem to be taking his racing well, then I think he will be hard to beat at Aintree. He helped prove though that it wasn't a strong race and class really did come to the fore.

I'm going to say something slightly controversial here, but Derek O'Connor and Jamie Codd gave their mounts terrible rides especially O'Connor. They were way too far back in the field and Stand Up And Fight must have been at least at least 30L behind Road To Rome for most of the race. They clearly both thought the pace was too quick and I suspect they also thought that they were on better horses than the British runners. They were wrong and Ucello Conti and Stand Up And Fight could only finish 5th and 6th. They both stayed on and weren't too far behind Road To Rome in the end. Ucello Conti will be too old for me next year, but Stand Up And Fight showed he does stay this trip and he is surely only going to get better. He might well win this race in the future. I am sure both Derek and Jamie would ride very different races if they could.

Fair play to Dont Do Mondays for finishing 7th as that was way better than I thought he would. Ascockastar was up there until 3 out and finished 8th in the end, but he performed with credit as did the last finisher Southfield Theatre who gave his young jockey a good ride for so long.

The rest never got involved at all and bar the 3 unseats all pulled up. Caid Du Berlais was clearly the big disappointment and although he was in midfield in the early stages he started going backwards fairly quickly. He didn't jump all that well either and he was beaten a long way out. I just wonder if the rushed preparation left him short of match practice in the end and this clearly wasn't his running.  

Quick word on Fakenham and Sir Jack Yeats had a very comfortable victory. It was interesting that his trainer said that he left him a bit under cooked in the end at Kelso when he was 3rd behind Shantou Flyer. He also made the point that he will be fresher at Aintree this year and that is a good point to make. Not sure he can win, but I can see him being good enough to hit the frame.

To end a profitable couple of days Burning Ambition won at Down Royal on Saturday. He looked like he was going to win really easily, but he emptied quickly on the run in and Sidetracked nearly got to him. The way he finished the race really worries me going forward and if he does go to Aintree I will be more than happy to take him on based on this. I thought Sidetracked was the one to take from the race and he clearly needs a longer trip as he was outpaced when Burning Ambition kicked and it looked like he was struggling, but he stayed on strongly to get 2nd. He looks a horse to keep a close eye on.