The Charlie Hall Chase took a little bit of a battering at yesterday’s overnight declaration stage.
Weird Al came out, which was a bit, well, weird, given that Donald McCain had said all along that this was the race in which he wanted to start Weird Al off this season, all things being equal. Obviously, all things were not equal for Weird Al.
Nor were they equal for Diamond Harry. Not that Diamond Harry is ever a definite runner. Even when he is declared for a race and travels to the track, he still isn’t a definite runner. I received a text message from a friend this morning after declarations were made, without Diamond Harry: “Backed Harry ante post – I need my head examined.”
Silviniaco Conti is a runner though, and he is a worthy favourite. He was a high-class novice chaser last season, he got to within two lengths of Grands Crus in the Feltham Chase at Kempton on King George day and he beat Champion Court and Join Together out of sight in the Mildmay Chase at Aintree last April the last time we saw him.
However, he is young and he is short. He may have been flattered by his Aintree win – he had skipped Cheltenham whereas the second and third had both endured tough races there – and the Charlie Hall is usually won by a more battle-hardened performer than Silviniaco Conti. Only one seven-year-old has won the race since 1994, and you have to go back to Righthand Man in 1982 to find the last winner aged younger than seven.
Silviniaco Conti is six. He may have the class to get him by, he may simply have too much in hand of his rivals in terms of pure ability, but it will still be a tough test for the youngster against a couple of very capable older rivals, and you can take him on at around 2.3.
Time For Rupert is one of those older rivals, and he looks over-priced at 5.5. Paul Webber’s horse was sent off the 11/8 favourite for this race last year when he was just a second-season chaser himself, just a seven-year-old. He finished second to Weird Al that day, the pair of them clear of their rivals, and he looked set for a lucrative campaign.
Things didn’t pan out exactly like that, but he did win a graduation chase at Newbury in December, making all to beat subsequent Gold Cup runner-up The Giant Bolster, and he ran out of his skin to finish fifth in the Gold Cup himself, shaping like a possible winner when he led around the home turn.
One of the leading staying novice chasers two seasons ago, it is possible that Time For Rupert needed last year to recover from a gruelling run in the RSA Chase in March 2011 when he was found to be bleeding after the race, and he could progress significantly this term. A top class hurdler who got to within three lengths of Big Buck’s in the 2010 World Hurdle, he still has the potential to be at least as good as, if not better over fences than, he was over hurdles. His trainer reports him to be in fine form, he goes well for Denis O’Regan, and he does run well fresh. He could run a big race.
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