Aintree Saturday

NOT for the first time, the low sun ended up spoiling one of the feature races of the weekend. While missing the Pond Fence at Sandown is a nuisance rather than a disaster, the dolling off of half the obstacles in the Grade 2 Many Clouds Chase moved it some way towards farce; that is a real shame because it was turning into an enthralling race until the home straight.

It still produced a stirring finish despite none of the fences in the home straight being jumped, something which clearly suited the winner Lake View Lad (Nick Alexander/Brian Hughes) more than it did runner-up Santini (Nicky Henderson/Jerry McGrath), and certainly more than poor old Native River (Colin Tizzard/Richard Johnson), who had been handing his rivals a jumping lesson until that point, but was quickly in a degree of trouble without another fence to set himself for.

Lake View Lad, sent off at 16/1, is a very likeable chaser, but he certainly wasn’t without blemish in the jumping department, and made quite a bad mistake at the eighth of the 10 fences jumped, but he travelled strongly, which neither Santini nor Frodon really did in the race.

He is largely an assured jumper of fences (certainly not in the Stormez category of horses gifted success by the bypassing of fences for those with long memories), and while he may be flattered to a degree by this improved showing, it would be harsh to crab him for the manner of his win, which he achieved by a length and two lengths in receipt of 6lb from the placed pair.

Robbed

What rankles about the race is that it was shaping up into a fine spectacle, and to have the climactic section of it reduced to a flat race in effect robbed us of the spectacle that fans of steeplechasing live to see.

Lake View Lad is reportedly in line to test his standing against the best around by running in the Cotswold Chase at Cheltenham next month, where he is likely to meet Santini again, and he will do well to confirm form on revised terms – he will carry a 6lb penalty for this win, so will meet Santini at levels, while Nicky Henderson’s Gold Cup runner-up improved markedly for his reappearance run last season when beating Bristol de Mai in the 2020 Cotswold Chase.

Native River was entered in the Welsh National, but his connections have decided to swerve Chepstow, meaning they could also re-oppose at Cheltenham on Trials Day, but he’s been a regular in the Denman Chase at Newbury in recent times, and that seems a more likely spot for him again.