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| Hi Ho Silviniaco - Silviniaco Conti can land Saturday's Charlie Hall at Wetherby |
The Charlie Hall Chase at Wetherby is without a doubt the feature race of Saturday and a fantastic renewal looks in prospect with some big names set to take their chance, including last year’s first two home Weird Al and Time For Rupert.
It shows the depth of the potential line-up for this year’s race that those two Gold Cup horses are being usurped for favouritism this time around by the gambled upon Silviniaco Conti from the all-conquering Paul Nicholls yard.
The six-year-old has been well backed all week and the fact that Ruby Walsh has opted to head up to Wetherby for this race rather than heading south for an all round better card at Ascot looks a tip in itself.
Not that you need to read too much in to things in order to be able to back this horse because on the strength of his demolition job of a decent enough field at Aintree in his last start as a novice last season he’s probably deserving of the punt currently being taken on him.
13l behind him at Aintree that day was Champion Court who had previously been second to current Gold Cup favourite Sir Des Champs in the Jewson at the Festival, of course there is the famed Cheltenham-Aintree ‘bounce’ to possibly take in to account for that horse’s performance that day, but nonetheless it was a hugely impressive performance.
Prior to that he’d run well, if unspectacularly, during his novice season, his best performance before Aintree having come when chasing Grands Crus home in the Feltham at Kempton on Boxing Day.
Something obviously clicked with Silviniaco Conti at the back end of the season and Nicholls’ decision to bypass Cheltenham with him proved to be a wise one indeed with that Aintree romp. They’ve always thought a lot of this horse and Nicholls seems to have handled him patiently and carefully, as one would expect.
The wave of support this week plus the Nicholls-Walsh juggernaut combining for a Saturday feature race makes Silviniaco Conti a confident selection for the Charlie Hall. 5/2 is still a decent enough price, although if he were to shorten up further – as is expected – there could be more value in looking at the horses that may chase him home.
Weird Al made a splash for the McCain yard when winning this race twelve months ago but then disappointed for the remainder of the season; there’s a suspicion you need to catch him fresh so this could be the time to get behind him.
On the pick of his form then Weird Al, as evidenced last year, is more than capable of winning this but he’s anything but consistent and seems short to me as the current second favourite.
Last year’s second Time For Rupert appeals more to me as not only is he a bigger price, he is for me at least a little more consistent than Weird Al.
He’s never quite recovered from his RSA flop at the 2011 Festival when sent off a short-priced favourite, having been pretty solid prior to that. After his second in the Charlie Hall a year ago he ran poorly when well beaten in the Betfair Chase before bouncing back to win a Graduation Chase at Newbury beating subsequent Gold Cup second The Giant Bolster.
He then disappointed again in the Argento at Cheltenham before running well for a long way in the Gold Cup before tiring up the hill and finishing fifth. There’s a suspicion he doesn’t quite get up the Cheltenham hill, bizarre when he chased Big Buck’s home in the World Hurdle of 2010, but he shouldn’t have too many concerns round Wetherby and if on song can be involved at the tail end of affairs.
2012 RSA second First Lieutenant and the admirable Midnight Chase head the dangers, but the former was disappointing first time out against Sizing Europe and the latter although highly rated always seems to fall just short when pitched in against the very top horses.
Former Hennessy winner Diamond Harry is arguably the most talented horse still in the field but he has seemed to be made of glass and it would be a win for his connections were he to simply make it to Wetherby and get round.
On the plus side for Diamond Harry, if For Non Stop’s Old Roan destruction last weekend is anything to go by the yard seem to be in good form; until he shows some of the old spark though Diamond Harry would definitely be a horse to watch rather than back.
Of the remainder Cappa Bleu and Wayward Prince were both horses I was banging the drum for at times last season, but Cappa Bleu looks to want about 5 miles and it’ll probably take every inch of the 3m1f the Charlie Hall is run over simply to wake him up.
Wayward Prince meanwhile was a major disappointment last term, pulling up when well fancied in the Hennessy and never really firing all year. He doesn’t appear to have progressed from his novice campaign and if anything seems to have gone backwards, whether a change of trainer will help him realise his true potential remains to be seen.
Planet Of Sound, Master Of The Hall and Roberto Goldback are all capable of making their presence felt on their best day too, but for me Team Ditcheat could have a new chasing star on their hands to go some way to filling the huge void left in their yard by recent retirements and Silviniaco Conti can cement that reputation up at Wetherby.
Recommendation:
Back Silviniaco Conti to win @ 5/2 (Boylesports)
Best Odds:
Silviniaco Conti 5/2
Weird Al 5/1
Time For Rupert 7/1
First Lieutenant 8/1
Midnight Chase 8/1
Planet of Sound 8/1
Diamond Harry 9/1
Master Of The Hall 12/1
Cappa Bleu 20/1
Roberto Goldback 20/1
Cannington Brook 33/1
Wayward Prince 33/1
Mr Moonshine 40/1
Garleton 50/1
Forget last season. I hear Wayward Prince is in top form.
ReplyDeleteHope so. Would love to see him back to his best.
ReplyDelete