If anyone ever writes a book about The Most Under-appreciated Racehorses Of All Time, Takingrisks deserves a place on the cover, following his 40-1 success in the Sky Bet Chase at Doncaster on Saturday. Despite his obvious qualities as a game battler who has held his form well over many seasons, this doughty handicapper has rarely had punters on his side and it is four years since he last started as the outright favourite for a race over fences.
Yet this was his third success at big odds in a major betting race, following his most famous moment of glory in the Scottish National two years ago, when he was 25-1, and his Rehearsal Chase win later that year at 20-1.
All horses slow down in the end and perhaps the general view this time was that Takingrisks had lost whatever pace he might once have had, but he fought his way to victory on very testing ground to beat Aye Right and Cap Du Nord.
The Sky Bet has a long, proud history dating back to 1948 under its more familiar title of the Great Yorkshire Chase, but this was the first time a horse as old as 12 had taken the prize. It was an emotional moment for his trainer, Nicky Richards, who uses Takingrisks as his hack at his Penrith stable.
“He doesn’t perform like an old-age pensioner,” said Richards, who admitted to having had £20 each-way. “We beat the bookies for once. We’ll enjoy this evening.”
Pairing up with the jockey Sean Quinlan appears to have been helpful to the horse, as the pair have now won four times from seven races together. Quinlan described the past fortnight as the best time of his career, as he also delivered Navajo Pass to beat Buveur D’Air in Haydock’s Champion Hurdle Trial last Saturday.
Takingrisks would add some colour to the Grand National field but it seems this is not in Richards’s plans. The trainer indicated that he and owner, Frank Bird, favoured another tilt at the Scottish equivalent instead.
Shishkin kept his unbeaten record over fences with an untroubled eight-length success over Eldorado Allen, which will have prompted some sighs of relief at the Lambourn stable of his trainer, Nicky Henderson, who has sent out some beaten favourites in recent days.
Tips by Chris Cook
Wolverhampton
12.40 Onebaba 1.10 Velvet Vista 1.40 Universal Effect 2.10 Tanqeeb 2.40 Buy Me Back 3.10 Mutarabes 3.40 Owhatanight 4.10 Comeatchoo
Catterick Abandoned because of a frozen track.
Nico de Boinville, his jockey, said: “I’m over the moon with that. That was just how we wanted it to go. Couldn’t have been better.
“They’ve gone hard from the front, they went a really good gallop and they tried to turn it into a test on that ground. It didn’t seem to faze Shishkin at all. He was still able to jump and travel and do what he does best.”
Shishkin seems set to be one of the hottest favourites at the Cheltenham Festival in March. The last of the even-money about his chance in the Arkle Trophy disappeared in the wake of this success and he is now no bigger than 8-11.
