We have taken an early look into one of the feature races of the national hunt season, the Ladbrokes Trophy, and we have come up with a big selection.
The Paul Nicholls trained Topofthegame is the apple of his eye and after suffering a season ending injury he has not be seen since finishing second at Aintree in the Grade One Mildmay Novices' Chase.
He was set for the Gold Cup lsat term after landing the RSA Chase at Cheltenham in 2019, but those plans have been diverted for this year.
In the lead up to the 2021 feature contest at Prestbury Park, Nicholls has explained that the eight year old will go to the Ladbrokes Trophy and if he returns from his injury as good as or better than he was in 2019, he will be very tough to beat.
He is currently 6/1 to land the Grade Three event at Newbury and that has already been smashed in from a double figure price.
His trainer Paul Nicholls has spoke about him in the same sentence as Denman, who of course landed all of the Gold Cup, RSA and the Ladbrokes Trophy in his career and he is hoping Topofthegame can do the same.
(Credit AtTheRaces) Nicholls said: “Denman obviously won an RSA on the way to winning a Gold Cup and some really good races, and I don’t see why Topofthegame isn’t the same sort of horse.
“He’s not quite so robust, he wouldn’t want so many runs – we’ll have to space his runs out – but when he’s right, he’s obviously very good and he’s got lots of stamina.
“We’re really looking forward to next season with him, getting him ready and hopefully going to Newbury in November.”