Sprinter Sacre’s return to action in the Clarence House Chase at Ascot on Saturday promises to be an event to excite both punters and purists after bookmakers opened betting on the Grade One contest with the former Champion Chase winner available to back at odds-against for the first time since December 2011.
Sprinter Sacre became the first horse for 14 years to win at the Cheltenham, Aintree and Punchestown Festivals in the same season in the spring of 2013, but has not lined up for a race since 27 December that year, when he was pulled up in the Desert Orchid Chase at Kempton and subsequently found to be suffering from an irregular heartbeat. Nicky Henderson’s nine-year-old had won all 10 of his previous starts over fences including victories at 1-9, 1-7 and 1-5, and has started at odds-against only once in his chasing career, when 11-10 in a field of three more than three years ago.
Possible opponents for Sprinter Sacre in Saturday’s race include Dodging Bullets and Twinlight, both Grade One winners last time out, in the Tingle Creek Chase and the Dial-A-Bet Chase respectively. Despite the apparent strength in depth, however, Timeform’s ratings suggest that Sprinter Sacre would have at least 30lb in hand of his five potential rivals if he produced his best form, a gulf in class that would normally see such a popular horse start at long odds-on.
Yet Sprinter Sacre attracted no interest from backers when betting opened on the Ascot contest, with BetVictor going so far as to push him out to evens from 5-6 after money arrived for Dodging Bullets at 5-2. Some doubt remains over Sprinter Sacre’s participation on Saturday, with rain forecast for Ascot and Henderson known to be reluctant to run Sprinter Sacre on very testing ground, yet the market is clearly wary of a horse who looked unbeatable nearly two years ago but has missed two possible engagements already this season due to concern that he was not showing his usual zest on the gallops.
Charlie McCann, spokesman for BetVictor, said on Monday that Sprinter Sacre had been a difficult horse to price up, with only a recent racecourse gallop and schooling session at Newbury to provide evidence of his wellbeing.
Even then the messages from Newbury were mixed, with Sprinter Sacre looking a little fortunate not to fall when he took off too early at the second of five schooling fences. “He’s reported to have worked and schooled well on Friday,” McCann said, “but until he gets into a race, which may be on ground that is softer than he would like, we won’t know.
“The old Sprinter Sacre would probably win without coming off the bridle, but we haven’t seen the old Sprinter Sacre since that treble [in 2013] which was largely on spring ground. Thirteen months ago [at Kempton], it wasn’t the old Sprinter Sacre and these conditions are going to be testing enough.
“You feel that Nicky Henderson will feel almost obliged to run, but he could easily go off at 11‑10 if the ground is very soft.”
Having opened at 10-11 for Saturday’s race, Paddy Power pushed Sprinter Sacre out to a current top price of 11‑10, while Dodging Bullets is available at 5-2 elsewhere. Somersby, who recorded the only Grade One win of his career in the same race three seasons ago, is an 11-2 chance with Ladbrokes while Twinlight is 8-1 and the outsiders French Opera and Grey Gold are 25-1 and 40-1 respectively.
Chris Stickels, Ascot’s clerk of the course, said on Monday that rain is forecast for the track later this week, but remains hopeful that the going will be no worse than soft on Saturday.
“We’ve got rain coming from lunchtime and through the night,” Stickels said, “and then a brief respite on Tuesday, with another band of wet weather coming in on Wednesday and Thursday. I’d expect it to be soft this weekend, at the moment. We’re good to soft at the moment and we haven’t had heavy ground yet this year, so it would take quite a lot of rain for it to turn heavy.”
The anticipated wet weather is causing more concern at Haydock, where the ground is already heavy ahead of the valuable Peter Marsh Chase meeting, also scheduled for Saturday.
The card includes the StanJames.com Champion Hurdle Trial, which is expected to feature The New One, the second-favourite behind Faugheen for the Champion Hurdle at Cheltenham in March. The race has been re-opened in an attempt to attract additional entries, but Nigel Twiston-Davies, The New One’s trainer, confirmed that The New One will line up “if the meeting is on”.
Kirkland Tellwright, Haydock’s clerk of the course, said he remains optimistic about that, despite a forecast of up to 30mm of rain and perhaps even snow.
“At this stage, I think we should be on,” Tellwright said. “There’s a lot of rain to come and we are in for a wet week. There’s a slight risk some of it may fall as snow and there is a possibility of frost on Saturday morning.
“The fields have stood up well and, as for the Champion Hurdle Trial, when you have a headline horse like The New One, I think people will forgive one small field.”
Road To Riches, the Lexus Chase winner at Leopardstown’s Christmas meeting and the second-favourite for the Gold Cup at Cheltenham in March, will miss the Hennessy Gold Cup at Leopardstown in February and head straight to the Festival, Noel Meade, the gelding’s trainer, said.
“He’s going to have an easy January and we’ll start building him up again,” Meade said. “If I had to train him for the Hennessy, I’d have had to train him for the whole month of January. Now I’m able to give him a break and a little time off.”
Meade added that he had pursued a similar plan before the horse’s wins in the Galway Plate, at Down Royal in November and in the Lexus Chase at Christmas.
Red Sherlock, whose only defeat last season came behind Faugheen in the Neptune Investment Management Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival, will not race this season.
“Unfortunately, when he arrived back from pre-training at Timmy Murphy’s yard, his scans were not satisfactory,” David Pipe, Red Sherlock’s trainer, said through his website.
“After facing a race against time with him, we have decided to draw stumps for the season. He is far too good a prospect to rush so he will be given all the time he requires to return to 110%.”
