Nicky Henderson wishes there had been less recent rain but may still be able to extend his remarkable run in the Topham Chase, thanks to Cocktails At Dawn (4.05). The eight-year-old comes here underneath most radars, having not been seen for more than four months, but he is young, progressive and quite a similar type to the horses with which Henderson has won this race for the last three years.
Cocktails At Dawn won a handicap by 26 lengths last April, at the season-ending meeting at Sandown. He started this term in similar form, winning handily at Chepstow. Blaklion, subsequently the RSA winner, and Native River, runner-up in the National Hunt Chase, were among those behind him.
He ran poorly at Cheltenham in November but he has run poorly there before. Henderson said this week that he had been saved, since then, in the hope of good going, which he hasn’t quite got. But the National course does not look overly testing and he may nevertheless be able to express his ability. He is still weighted to win a good race and 20-1 is a tempting each-way price.
2.15 Henderson could also be on the mark with Buveur D’Air, who came from a long way back to be third in the Supreme Novice Hurdle at last month’s Festival. He couldn’t have got near Altior that day, however he was ridden, but he looked the second best horse in the race and seems a classy prospect.
2.50 In an open-looking race, it may pay to take a chance on Henri Parry Morgan, who has been running some way below this class but suddenly seems enormously progressive since being fitted with a tongue tie. He has won by big margins in handicaps in his last two starts and it is not really clear where he will bump up against the ceiling of his ability. He wouldn’t need to improve much to get involved here but is available at 16-1.
3.25 There is just no getting away from Vautour. Even after an imperfect preparation, he proved himself in another league to his Ryanair rivals at Cheltenham and he will have to perform miles under par to get turned over here. While things can always go wrong for a single horse, it is also hard to foresee sudden improvement from any of those ranged against him.
4.40 With the Rebecca Curtis stable coming back to form after a difficult winter, Mystical Knight makes each-way appeal at 16-1. He needs to be a lot better than when beaten at Warwick in February but that was his hurdles debut and he battled pleasingly to score in Ireland last month when stepped up to this trip. Barry Geraghty rode him like a good horse that day and the odds are there is plenty more to come.
