Donn McClean

REMEMBER the Badger Ales Trophy last year? When Southfield Theatre moved up on the outside of Gentleman Jon at the final fence and came down?

Paul Nicholls’ horse is back for more today, but there are three significant differences between last year and this year.

Firstly, the ground is probably going to be softer today than it was then. Secondly, he is rated 3lb higher than he was then. And thirdly, and most importantly, this year’s renewal is a much hotter renewal than last year’s was.

Difficult to believe, as you trawl through the 18 runners and try to figure out collateral lines of form, but there were only seven runners in last year’s race, and Present Man departed at the second fence. That left six. Southfield Theatre was sent off the 11/8 favourite.

TEMPTING

He was tempting again this year in his first-time cheekpieces at a multiple of last year’s price, but there may be better value beyond him.

Paul Nicholls is still a good starting point, he has won the race seven times since 1999 and he should have made it eight last year. It is a race that he obviously targets, one of the feature chases at his local track.

Present Man is a player, he progressed nicely last season after his Badger Ales mishap, he won three of his next four races, including a Grade 2 novices’ contest at Doncaster, and he was thought good enough to chance in the Bet365 Gold Cup at Sandown in April.

He started off this season in a novices’ hurdle at Kempton, which he won nicely, with today’s rider Bryony Frost riding him for the first time. That run should have put him spot on for today.

He races off a mark of 142, which is a mark that he should be capable of surpassing this season, he goes well at Wincanton, and his rider takes off 5lb. The worry is the ground, it may be softer than ideal for him, and he is short enough.

The third of the trio of Paul Nicholls runners, Mr Mix, may represent the best value of the three and possibly the best value of the race. He was unlucky not to win on his chasing debut at Fakenham in February, he was travelling like the likely winner when he unseated his rider at the second last fence. After that, connections probably decided to retain his novice status for this season, so he didn’t race again over fences until May, when he stayed on well to win a novices’ chase at Worcester.

Third behind Mia’s Storm and Elegant Escape – both of whom have run well again subsequently, the former winning – after his summer break at Chepstow in October, he stepped forward from that two weeks ago at Wincanton, when he stayed on well to land a staying handicap chase off a mark of 139, when he had Forgotten Gold and Gentleman Jon and Bally Longford behind him, giving them all weight.

The handicapper raised him by 5lb to a mark of 144 for that, but that was fair. Also, he is only six, and that was just his fourth run over fences. He has bundles of scope for progression as a staying chaser.

He won well on goodish ground last time, but he is probably better on soft, so the prospect of overnight rain is not a negative.

He stays well, his last win was over an extended three and a quarter miles, and he goes really well at Wincanton. In two runs there, he has won a handicap hurdle and a handicap chase. All looks set for a good run.

INTRIGUING

Charbel is an intriguing inclusion among the runners for the Elite Hurdle 35 minutes earlier.

Kim Bailey’s horse was a talented novice chaser last season, he finished second to Altior in the Henry VIII Chase at Sandown on Tingle Creek day, and he was in the process of giving Nicky Henderson’s horse a race in the Arkle when he came down at the second last fence.

But he was also a high-class novice hurdler the previous season, he beat Brain Power by 11 lengths in the Scottish Trial Novices’ Hurdle at Musselburgh, he finished second behind Yanworth in the Kennel Gate Hurdle at Ascot, and he finished fifth behind the aforementioned Altior in the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle.

He is rated 154 over fences, but he gets to race off his old hurdles mark of 149 today. He hasn’t raced over hurdles since he started to race over fences, so there is every chance that he will be able to translate is chase form to hurdles.

He is only six, so there is every chance that he is still progressing.

He does go well on goodish ground over fences, but he won his two bumpers for Tom Mullins in Ireland on soft and heavy ground, and he has won over hurdles for Kim Bailey on soft ground, so soft ground today shouldn’t be a big negative for him.

He has never run at Wincanton, but he has run well at Sandown and Musselburgh, which are both flat and right-handed, like Wincanton. He has to give weight away to some talented rivals, but he could be up to the task.

RECOMMENDED

MR MIX, 11/1 (generally) 1 point each-way,

CHARBEL, 4/1 (generally) 1 point win,

Donn selected Bristol De Mai at 9/1 last week