Ascot Saturday Preview - 23/01/21

Ascot host the best card in Britain on Saturday and it kickstarts with a Class 3 Juvenile Hurdle over two miles and with plenty of runners making debuts over hurdles, these events can be tricky.

We are siding with the Alan King trained Tritonic as this handler has been superb with dual purpose horses over the years and he has been talking about sending this horses over obstacles for a while.

The gelding has the best form on the flat out of these in the race and is known for acting on soft ground, with his best run coming at Royal Ascot in June when a narrow second in the Golden Gates Handicap behind Highland Chief, who went on to frank the form in better races.

If taking to hurdles, this gelding looked a stayer in the making and could be Alan King's big chance in the Triumph Hurdle.

The Grade Two Mares' Hurdle at Ascot on Saturday sees a small but decent field head to post and Roksana for the inform Skelton team will take some serious beating.

Having been a shock winner of the Grade One Mares Hurdle in 2019 she has since placed in some nice events at Aintree and Cheltenham.

She went back to defend her crown at Cheltenham in March and could only finish fourth behind some star mares, but that form has since been franked.

Roksana made a credible seasonal debut for the yard when winning the Grade Two bet365 Hurdle at Wetherby in October and backed that up last time out with another big run.

She headed into the Grade One Long Walk Hurdle at Ascot over three miles and finished a smart third behind Paisley Park and Thyme Hill.

That event looks the strongest form heading into the race and if performing that standard should see off this field.

The Grade Three Handicap Hurdle over 2m3f looks a competitive event on the face of it and the hors that looks weighted to strike is Danny Kirwan for Paul Nicholls.

The eight year old is very lightly raced for his age suffering with some injury niggles, but this term has been in sound form and dropping in class from his last run into this race can see him make a bold showing.

He made his debut in October at Aintree having been off since February and finished a good third, blowing away the cobwebs.

He used that run to then get off the mark for the season in a Maiden over course and distance at Ascot beating some nice types.

The son of Scorpion gave a poor showing last time out when stepped up to Grade Two company at Cheltenham and he was also up to three miles that day.

Dropping back in class and trip are all positives for this horses and looks to have a solid shout.

The three mile Handicap Chase is looking for an out and out stayer with the ground in Berkshire set to be very soft and the horse that fits that criteria is De Forgotten One.

The Richard Hobson trained seven year old has had a consistent season to date over staying trips, making his seasonal debut over in France over hurdles and finishing a good third in what looked a race to get him fit.

It seemed to do the trick as next time out, again in France he went on to win a decent event at Compiegne by six lengths.

He has since been brought back over to England and Hobson entered him into the Cross Country Handicap Chase at Cheltenham's December meeting and he finished a stellar third, with the further he went the better he got.

He was turned out fairly quickly after that and got back to winning ways at Catterick and although going slightly up in he weights has the profile you need to win this race.

The Brian Ellison trained Windsor Avenue is weighted to be a big player in this handicap event, showing clear ability over fences during his career and after some decent runs this term he can now finally get his head in front.

The nine year old gelding was a smart novice last season winning two nice events and although fading out towards the end of the season still retains his potential.

This term the son of Winged Love has been seen three times, finishing a superb second on seasonal debut behind Imperial Aura in a Listed event at Carlisle.

He was then aimed at the Caspian Caviar Gold Cup at Cheltenham's December meeting where he never gave his true showing and was pulled up.

He bounced back to better form last time out when third over three miles at Wetherby in a Grade Three event and having been dropped 1lb for that run he looks a live contender in this event.

He is dropping in trip to 2m5f which will suit better than the three miles he ran over last time out and also dropping into a lesser race off a reduced mark can only be a positive.

At 10/1 the gelding is a live each way player.

The feature event at Ascot on Saturday is the Grade One Clarence House Chase over the extended two mile trip and Politologue for Paul Nicholls should make it a hat-trick of Grade One wins.

It was thought that the nine year old would never be able to get back to his best Grade One winning form last year having raced twice before the festival, finishing second of four on debut in the Shloer Chase and then fifth of eight in the Tingle Creek, where again he finished behind Defi Du Seuil.

However, his win in the Champion Chase saw him back to his best and although the big hitters like Altior and Chacun Pour Soi were pulled out of the event which took the shine off the race, the grey was still the best horse on the day and under a superb ride from the front jumped the field into submission

His handler Paul Nicholls believed that his win in that race was not a fluke and with another great preparation he showed just how good he is when landing the Grade One Tingle Creek Chase for the second time in his career, on his seasonal debut.

The British Champion Chase division looks extremely weak this season and with this renewal of the race just that, we think Politologue at an odds against price is big value.

Harry Skelton has been the rider on board for his last two wins and he now jumps off with Harry Cobden given the chance.

The final event of the afternoon at Ascot is the 2m5f Novice Hurdle and although Paul Nicholls holds a strong entry with Jeremy Pass, we are going for Valleres for Alan King.

King has been good this term and this six year old looks to be one of the better talents over jumps in his yard and has been knocking on the door in better races than this.

The Simon Munir and Isaac Souede owned horse has some strong form this season, having got off the mark on hurdles debut in a novice hurdle at Wetherby.

Since then, he has been upped in class finishing second behind Threeunderthrufive at Ludlow and then last time out another good second behind the smart Star Gate.

That run came at Sandown in heavy ground in a Grade Two event and now dropping back to this race makes him a big player to get back to winning ways.