2.40 Wetherby

William Hill Towton Novices’ Chase (Grade 2), 3m

SAM HARDY

1 City Chief

2 Ballygrifincottage

3 Thunder Rock

The well-regarded City Chief was always going to make a better chaser than hurdler, coming from the point-topoint field. Beaten in a twohorse race behind a more experienced rival on his chase debut at Exeter, the six-year-old then put that run behind him when bolting up next time out at Hereford. Ballygrifincottage, a winning pointer himself, is the main danger having bolted up at Haydock.

JAMES HILL

1 Ballygrifincottage

2 City Chief

3 Mister Coffey

The ground will be soft at Wetherby and I would think Thunder Rock will therefore head to Sandown, which gives Ballygrifincottage a good chance to make it two from two over fences. I’m not sure Beauport was at his best when he beat him at Haydock last time, but it was still a nice chase debut. This eight-year-old is very lightly raced and there’s ample room for further progress.

MADDY PLAYLE

1 Ballygrifincottage

2 Mister Coffey

3 Gold Cup Bailly

Ballygrifincottage built on his hugely promising hurdles form on chasing debut at Haydock in November, when he looked a natural over fences. He clearly hasn’t been straightforward to train as he hasn’t been seen since, but this has been the target for a while and he should be tough to beat. The experienced Mister Coffey can run his usual consistent race.

STUART REDDING

1 Ballygrifincottage

2 Mister Coffey

3 Thunder Rock

Dan Skelton is having a fantastic season and I expect him to land another big prize with Ballygrifincottage. He was best of the home team when fourth in the Albert Bartlett last March and showed that fences were no problem when seeing off Beauport on his chase debut at Haydock in November. Mister Coffey regularly finds one too good over fences but he has the ability to figure.