‘Arctic blast’ threatens to disrupt Britain’s horse racing program until next week

The valuable card at Ascot featuring the Grade One Ascot Chase is the only jumps meeting in Britain on Saturday not to undergo a morning inspection as an “arctic blast” expected to last until early next week causes disruption to the racing program less than a month before the festival meeting at Cheltenham.

Wincanton, where Alexei, an improving 25-1 chance for the Champion Hurdle on March 10, will go on trial in the Kingwell Hurdle, will hold a precautionary inspection at 8am GMT, with temperatures expected to drop below freezing overnight.

Haydock, meanwhile, has a similar forecast for lows around -2 degrees Celsius and will also check his course on Saturday morning. The planned seven-race card on the Lancashire course includes two Grade Two events in addition to the £100,000 Grand National Trial over three and a half miles.

There is currently no inspection scheduled in Musselburgh for Sunday’s track map, but a six-race meeting at Lingfield on Monday was called off early on Friday afternoon as the track was already waterlogged and further rain was expected.

Conditions will be very different in Riyadh on Saturday evening when Forever Young, the winner of the Breeders’ Cup Classic, could take his career earnings above $30 million (£22 million) with a second successive victory in the $20 million Saudi Cup, the world’s richest race.

Trained in Japan by Yoshito Yahagi, Forever Young will head out as heavy favorites to beat a field that includes Bob Baffert’s Nysos, the 2025 Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile winner, and his stablemate Nevada Beach, who was ahead of him at a Grade Two event at Santa Anita in December.

Oisin Murphy, the British champion jockey, is also in the race aboard Sunrise Zipangu, whose trainer, Kyoko Maekawa, was the first woman to receive a training license in Japan.

Pic D’Orhy could be Jonbon’s bogeyman

The popular and extremely consistent Jonbon would become only the third horse this century to win eleven Grade 1 races over jumps with victory in the Ascot Chase on Saturday afternoon, but Pic D’Orhy (3.35)its main rival in the market, is also on the verge of a major achievement and could be the better bet on a track and journey that suits it.

The 11-year-old will join eight former residents of the Paul Nicholls stable as the winner of more than £1million in prize money if he finishes first or second in the five-rider field, which is all the more impressive given his preference for right-handed tracks which saw him make just one appearance at Cheltenham in March 2019.

Pic D’Orhy must forgive him a poor run in the 1965 Chase over the course and distance of Saturday in November, but he has always appreciated a decent break between runs and that performance came just three weeks after a promising season performance at the Charlie Hall in Wetherby.

Saturday’s race will be his first in 84 days, and in an event he has won for the past two seasons, having started as second choice in the betting both times. The Nicholls stable has also been in much better form in recent weeks, with 11 wins from 27 riders before racing on Friday, including Tutti Quanti’s emphatic victory in last weekend’s main event.

While Jonbon promises to be a stronger opponent than the last two favourites, he is racing beyond two and a half miles for the first time and also had to dig deep to win the Clarence House at Ascot four weeks ago after looking two beat.

Ascot 1.15: Mondoui’boy was a six-figure recruit for the Ben Pauling stable last summer, made a smooth transition to hurdling at Ludlow last month and will be keen to follow up here.

Wincanton 1.35: The Kingwell Hurdle was won last season for the first time since 2008 by the subsequent winner of the Champion Hurdle, and improved rapidly Alexeia good third under 12 stone in a hot handicap at Ascot last time, can book a place in the Champion field this year with a third success of the campaign.

Ascot 1.50: The late scratch of probably favorite Thomas Mor must disappear The Jukebox Kid with a simple task.

Hay dock 2.05: Dan Skelton’s Cabral du Mathan improves with each step up the trip and will be a short prize to complete a hat-trick.

Ascot 2.25: The shape of RangeSandown’s narrow success in January was evident when second place ran a strong race next time, and the early backs could also yield some more improvement.

Hay dock 2.40: Ubatuba has won both his starts over fences with ease and can add to this heading into a possible tilt at the Albert Bartlett at Cheltenham.

Ascot 3.00: A positive track-and-trip record suggests Montreal could be the answer here, despite racing from 3lb off the handicap.

Hay dock 3.15: With only seven races over fences in the book, Deafening silence clearly has the potential to build on a fine third place finish in the Welsh Grand National in December.