CYRNAME had options and entries this weekend, so it is interesting that Paul Nicholls has decided to send him to Wetherby to contest the Bet365 Charlie Hall Chase today.

He is the logical favourite too. He is (still) the highest-rated steeplechaser in training, and he is rated almost a stone higher than the next highest-rated horse in today’s race.

There are unknowns though: the distance and the track. On the only occasion on which Cyrname went beyond two miles and five furlongs, he was well beaten by his stable companion Clan Des Obeaux in the King George last year. And he has never run at Wetherby.

Indeed, he hasn’t raced at a left-handed track since he finished fourth behind Finian’s Oscar in the Manifesto Chase at Aintree in April 2018.

As well as that, he was a beaten horse when he fell at the final fence in the Betfair Chase at Ascot in February the last time we saw him.

You have a lot of leeway when you have 13lb in hand, you can allow for a lot, and it may be that Paul Nicholls’ horse will be good enough to win today, even if the track is not ideal and even if the distance is longer than his optimum.

But his rating was awarded on the back of performances over two miles and five furlongs at Ascot, a discipline at which he is dynamite, and it may be that he is vulnerable today.

Vinndication was thought of by many as a right-handed horse too. Kim Bailey’s horse won his only bumper going right-handed and he won his three hurdle races going right-handed.

As a novice chaser, he won at Carlisle and he won at Ascot, and he finished third behind Defi Du Seuil and Lostintranslation in the Scilly Isles Chase at Sandown, where he jumped to his right, at a right-handed track.

But he didn’t run badly in the JLT Chase at Cheltenham last year going left and, after winning the Sodexo Gold Cup at Ascot on this day last year, he ran well too to finish fourth in the Ultima Handicap Chase at this year’s Cheltenham Festival, where he didn’t show any real tendency to go to his right.

He has 13lb to find with Cyrname on official ratings – he is rated 15lb inferior and he receives 2lb – but, as well as the possibility that Paul Nicholls’ horse will not run up to his rating today, there is also the possibility that Vinndication can go higher than his rating.

Six times

He is only seven and he has raced just 10 times under all codes in his life, and just six times over fences. He stays three miles well and he goes well fresh. He is three for three on his first run back after a break of 200 days or more.

Ballyoptic is back again, but this is a better race than it was last year, when he beat Elegant Escape and Aso and Definitly Red, getting weight from all three.

This year, he has to give weight to all his rivals except Cyrname. The 2018 winner Definitly Red is back again too, but he is 11 now, and no horse aged older than 10 has won the Charlie Hall Chase since Strath Royal won it in 1998.

Sam Spinner is three for three over fences, two of his wins gained at Wetherby, but the last one, at Doncaster in December last year, was a fairly bloodless win, and he still has to prove that he can be as good over fences as he was over hurdles.

Sodexo Gold Cup

This year’s renewal of the Sodexo Gold Cup is a really interesting contest, with the progressive Commanche Red a worthy favourite, stepping up to three miles for the first time, in the face of stiff competition from wizened warriors like Black Corton and Regal Encore and Valtor.

However, the ground may not be that soft at Ascot, and it may be that Mister Malarky is worth chancing at a decent price.

Colin Tizzard’s horse was well-beaten in the race last year, but the ground was soft that day, and he proved that he could go well at Ascot on better ground when he won the Reynoldstown Chase there as a novice in February 2019.

He proved last year’s run to be all wrong too last February, when he stayed on strongly to win the Betway Handicap Chase at Kempton in February off a mark of 147, when he beat Black Corton by two lengths.

The Tizzard horses haven’t been in great form this season so far, which is a little bit of a worry, but they had a winner at Wincanton last Sunday, and they had Killer Kane run well in defeat at Aintree, and Storm Home was close up at Taunton on Wednesday when he came down at the third last fence.

More importantly, Mister Malarky goes well fresh, he won on his debut the season before last, and he was returning after a break of 63 days when he won the Betway Handicap Chase in February.

He is only seven, so he still has the potential to go beyond the handicap rating of 151 off which he races today.

Recommended

Vinndication 3.20 Wetherby, 5/2 (generally), 1 point win,

Mister Mallarky 3.40 Ascot, 12/1 (generally), 1 point win,