YOU can see why Gustavian has been put in as favourite for the Unibet Veterans’ Chase Final at Sandown this afternoon.

Anthony Honeyball’s horse was impressive in winning the Badger Beers Chase at Wincanton on his debut this season.

He got into a lovely racing rhythm on the front end from early that day, and he could have been called as the most likely winner from a long way out. But Rex Dingle was allowed set a moderate pace there, he may not have it as easy today.

And an 8lb hike was harsh enough, it takes him up to a mark of 135, which is 3lb higher than his highest winning mark and just 2lb lower than his peak.

He may well be able to repeat the trick, and his forward-going style is well suited to Sandown’s chase track, and he goes well on this goodish ground, highly unusual for this meeting, but he is short.

Le Milos is also short. You can see the case, he won veterans’ chases at Warwick and at Fakenham last season, and he is off a mark of 140 today, and we know how good a target-trainer Dan Skelton is and, given that this is such a valuable race, it is probable that he has been building up to this.

He has won two of his three races at Sandown too. But he has been well beaten in each of his three runs this season. The handicapper has not afforded him much leeway for those defeats, and the market has afforded him less.

Annsam goes into the race on the back of a good win at Ludlow, and a 5lb hike takes him up to a mark of just 132, which is still 17lb lower than his peak and 10lb lower than the highest mark off which he has won. But he does go well at Ludlow, his record there reads 21131. By contrast, he has run at Sandown twice, and he has run disappointingly on both occasions.

Rare runner

Digby is a rare runner for Dermot McLoughlin at Sandown, but the Meath trainer has had winners at Cheltenham and Hexham in the past, and Digby won at Bangor in April and he went close in the Summer Cup at Uttoxeter in June, when he went down by just a neck to Only The Bold.

He is off the same mark today, the ground is in his favour and, if he could repeat that Uttoxeter run, that would take him close.

But Nocte Volatus goes into the race in good form, and he could be the value of the race.

Tom Lacey’s horse fell at Foinavon in the Grand Sefton Chase at Aintree on his seasonal return when he was still travelling well, but he proved his wellbeing last time when he ran out an impressive winner of a three-mile veterans’ chase at Warwick, a qualifier for today’s race.

He travelled well through his race that day just behind the leaders, he joined Torn And Frayed at the second last fence and he stayed on well over the last and up the run-in to win by seven and a half lengths.

In so doing, he proved his stamina for this type of trip, at least on good to soft ground. He hadn’t won over a distance in excess of two miles and five furlongs before that, but he hadn’t been tried often over staying trips and he saw that race out well, leaving the impression that he needed that type of trip.

A 5lb hike for that win takes him up to a mark of 135, a career-high mark, which is unusual in a veterans’ race.

But he won nicely, he was deserving of a hike of that type of magnitude, and Torn And Frayed added ballast to the form when he finished second to Can You Call in another veterans’ race over the intermediate trip at Cheltenham’s December meeting, when he had Eldorado Allen and Courtland and Fugitif and Le Milos and Copperhead behind him.

That’s solid form and, on admittedly tenuous collateral lines, it gives Nocte Volatus the edge over Le Milos and Copperhead today.

Tom Lacey’s horse goes well right-handed, he has run well at Sandown in the past and he goes well on good to soft ground. He goes into the race in good form and, again unusually for a veteran chaser, he is largely unexposed over staying trips.

Handicap Hurdle

Hot Fuss could be the answer to the two-mile handicap hurdle that concludes proceedings at Sandown today.

Tom Dascombe’s horse did well to finish as close as he did in the Fred Winter Hurdle at Cheltenham in March, doing best of the horses who raced prominently in a well-run race.

Five of the first seven home raced in mid-division or worse through the early stages of the race, and Hot Fuss just missed out on the runner-up spot.

A dual winner on the flat, he finished down the field in the Chester Cup and in the November Handicap before he returned over hurdles in the Gerry Feilden Hurdle at Newbury, in which he ran well for a long way.

He raced up with the pace that the eventual winner Tutti Quanti set, they had a nice break on their rivals on the run down the back straight, before he faded from the second last flight.

He stepped up on that run last time too in the good premier two-mile handicap hurdle at Ascot on Long Walk Hurdle day, the old Ladbroke.

Racing just behind the pace that the winner Wilful set early on, he came under a ride when they quickened around the home turn, and it looked like he might fade from there, but he stuck to his task admirably on the far side, getting back up to beat the Greatwood Hurdle winner Alexei for the runner-up spot, with the front three nicely clear. He was second fastest through the final four furlongs and through the final furlong, after the winner.

The handicapper raised him by just 2lb for that run to a mark of 125, and that was more than fair. He is only five and he has raced just six times over hurdles so, rated 92 on the flat, he has the potential to go higher.

He has run just once at Sandown, he made just about all the running to win the juveniles’ hurdle on Tingle Creek Chase day last season. David Bass rode him that day, as he did in the Fred Winter Hurdle, and last time at Ascot, when he probably put up a career-best performance.

Nocte Volatus 3.05 Sandown

1pt win - 11/2 (generally)

Hot Fuss 3.35 Sandown

1pt win 4/1 (generally)