The £100,000 Charlie Hall Steeplechase at Wetherby is widely acknowledged as one of the most important and influential early season trials for top-quality chasers as they set out on the season long road to the Cheltenham Festival with the very live possibility of running in the Gold Cup itself.
The hugely popular Cue Card won this race in superb style in 2015, and went on to land both the Betfair Chase at Haydock and Kempton’s King George VI on Boxing Day. He unfortunately fell while in contention for the 2016 Gold Cup. Cue Card returned to Wetherby in 2016 but failed to secure the double, being beaten into third place behind the Rebecca Curtis trained Irish Cavalier.
As of the 48-hour declaration stage, thirteen runners make their way to the Yorkshire venue on Saturday afternoon. Here is a runner-by-runner guide:
More Of That (current odds 12/1)
Jonjo O’Neill’s More Of That, a former winner of the World Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival and Gold Cup sixth, takes his chance in this race rather heading over to Down Royal for the JN Wine Champion Chase.
“He ran flat last year, he never really turned up, for whatever reason,” O’Neill said. “Obviously, he’s had his problems but he’s come back in really good shape. At the moment, we’re all full of hope.”
Double Shuffle (current odds 20/1)
Tom George had this race earmarked for the seven-year-old gelding after he was pulled up in the Aintree Grand National.
“He might be the sort of horse to start off in the Charlie Hall at Wetherby as he has got that bit of class. He will improve for another summer on his back." said George after the National.
Double Shuffle ran second on his seasonal return at Chepstow. A nice warm-up for this perhaps?
Village Vic (current odds 20/1)
Somewhat of a Cheltenham specialist but did win the Bobby Renton Chase here back in 2015.
Village Vic is the pace angle in the race but is unproven beyond three miles and must be vulnerable to anything finishing late and fast.
Virgilio (current odds 20/1)
Virgilio has made giant strides since arriving on British shores and completed a hat-trick straight away for Dan Skelton.
He could not live with Might Bite and Whisper at Aintree in the Mildmay but returned the following month to the course to record a win.
Indian Stream (current odds 40/1)
Indian Steam was tailed off behind Rock The Kasbah at Chepstow three weeks ago and was never in contention.
The eight-year-old mare did win a 2m 3f Chase here however at last year’s corresponding fixture.
Coneygree (current odds 9/4)
The Scarlet Pimpernel of National Hunt finally makes his long awaited appearance on Saturday.
The 2015 Gold Cup winner has had just three races since his Cheltenham victory but showed he still retains plenty of ability when finishing third behind Sizing John at Punchestown in April.
The predicted overnight rain on Friday is also welcome news for the Bradstock team.
Blaklion (current odds 13/2)
Nigel Twiston-Davies, a four-time Charlie Hall winner, will be going into the year’s renewal with a two-pronged attack.
Blaklion, off since a fine fourth in the Grand National, was also placed fourth in this last year. The 2016 RSA Chase winner has Aintree aspirations again this season but may just need this opening run.
Definitly Red (current odds 8/1)
Brian Ellison’s bane of spellchecker has the Gold Cup as his long-term target and the Charlie Hall Chase will be the first stepping stone along that path.
The 159-rated chaser was in cracking form last season winning the Grimthorpe Chase by a street and scoring on Boxing Day here in the Roland Meyrick Handicap Chase.
He was rather unfortunate in the Grand National when going well and has to be a big player on Saturday.
Cue Card (current odds 11/4)
The nine-time Grade One winner suffered a surprise defeat in last year’s renewal when he was only third after being sent off 8-11 favourite.
Lack of fitness was blamed that day but the Tizzard’s have given their veteran star a racecourse gallop at Wincanton to sharpen him up, suggesting he is much further forward than he was twelve months ago.
After Wetherby, Cue Card is expected to run in the Betfair Chase at Haydock before racing in the King George VI at Kempton on Boxing Day.
Shantou Flyer (current odds 20/1)
Shantou Flyer makes his first start for trainer Richard Hobson in the Charlie Hall.
The Carl Hinchy-owned seven-year-old has joined Hobson from Rebecca Curtis and has not been seen since he was pulled up in the Grand National.
Before that he won a Handicap Chase at Cheltenham on New Year's Day and also finished second behind Cue Card in the Ascot Chase in February.
Sizing Codelco (current odds 20/1)
Aintree and Punchestown winner Sizing Codelco was made top weight for his seasonal return at Chepstow but was pulled up that day.
Dropped back down to a mark of 158 from 160 after that result, Colin Tizzard’s “Sizing” recruit could easily bounce back at generous odds and is hard to dismiss.
Vieux Lion Rouge (current odds 20/1)
Trained by David Pipe, Vieux Lion Rouge has won 11 of his 22 races and earned his owners £205,000.
Last seen when finishing sixth in the Grand National, the eight-year-old gelding had previously won the Grand National Trail at Haydock and the Becher Chase at Aintree.
He certainly gets every yard of the trip and appears to be another that has been largely ignored outside of the top two in the market.
Bristol De Mai (current odds 8/1)
Nigel Twiston-Davies’ six-year-old grey was the emphatic winner of the Peter Marsh Chase at Haydock last season and will only run on Saturday if there is some soft in the going.
Given the weather forecast there is every chance of that being the case and it will be all systems go for the Simon Munir and Isaac Souede owned runner.
He should really relish that type of ground and looks the more likely winner out of the Twiston-Davies pair.
Summary
After speaking with the Crossed Fingers Partnership at Aintree last Sunday and seeing how well their stable-star God’s Own ran, I am going to take an outside punt on the Tom George trained Double Shuffle.
The George stable put in some decent results last week at Cheltenham and Aintree and he certainly knows how to ready one for a big race.
Controversially I shall leave out the two horses heading the market and take Bristol De Mai and Definitly Red to fill the forecast and tricast spots.
*Odds subject to change - correct at time of writing*
