Newbury flop Thomas Patrick bids to redeem himself in Silver Cup

3.00 Ascot
Garrard Silver Cup Handicap Chase (Listed) | 3m | 4yo+ | ITV4/RTV

KEY QUESTIONS

Can Thomas Patrick make amends?

This £100,000 handicap chase is invariably won by a young, progressive stayer. In fact, the last eight winners have all been aged between five and eight.

The six-year-old Thomas Patrick clearly fits the bill, and it could pay to forgive his Ladbrokes Trophy disappointment this month when he was sent off a heavily-backed 3-1 favourite, but pulled up behind Sizing Tennessee.

Prior to that Newbury lapse, he had made giant strides over fences, with his official mark soaring from 125 in February to 148 after victories at Chepstow, Newbury and Aintree.

He also finished a highly promising second on his seasonal reappearance at Sandown to Elegant Escape.

Trainer Tom Lacey remains baffled by Thomas Patrick’s Newbury performance and is keeping his fingers firmly crossed David Kellett's runner can put it behind him and resume his progress.

“We’re still licking our wounds after the Ladbrokes Trophy,” he said. “Richard [Johnson] just said he didn’t feel his usual self during the race.

“We’re clutching at straws a bit over what went wrong, and he’s got to redeem himself. Ideally I’d have liked to have found a less deep race, but we’ll see how he gets on.”

Will Benatar benefit from step up in trip?

Gary Moore has always held Benatar in high regard and the six-year-old, who has won two of his three starts at Ascot, could well prove popular with punters as he steps up in trip to three miles.

Third behind Shattered Love and Terrefort in the Grade 1 JLT Novices’ Chase at Cheltenham in March, Benatar was too keen for his own good at Newton Abbot first time out this season, but ran a solid enough race behind King George contender Politologue in the Grade 2 2m5f Christy 1965 Chase last month.

Benatar: steps up in trip on Saturday for Gary MooreCredit: Mark Cranham

This will be just the 11th run of Benatar’s career and the likelihood is there remains plenty to come from him as his stamina is drawn out.

Moore said: “It’s his first time over the trip. If he settles well then I expect him to have every chance.”

What they say

Harry Fry, trainer of The Last Samuri
It's his debut for us and it's a tall order for him under top weight in such a competitive race, but it will be good to get his season under way and whatever he does here he'll build on it.

Venetia Williams, trainer of Otago Trail
It was a very good run at Newcastle and I'm pleased Ascot has had a nice bit of rain. He's gone back up a couple of pounds and he'll need a career best, but that will apply to a few of them.

Nicky Henderson, trainer of Gold Present and Valtor
Gold Present beat Frodon here a year ago and is made for the race, but soft ground worries me a bit. But he does jump very well and he's in good form. We haven't had Valtor that long. He's an older, experienced, French chaser of a type we don't often see coming over at this stage of their lives. This is very experimental, but he's a grand horse who jumps well and he obviously handles soft ground very well.

Gold Present (near side): defeated Frodon in this contest last seasonCredit: Mark Cranham

Alan King, trainer of Full Glass
We had to take Full Glass out of Cheltenham last weekend when the rain didn’t arrive in time, but he’ll now get the soft ground he loves and he might appreciate going up in distance. He’s been treating fences with more respect at home since he came to grief at Haydock, and he schooled well on Monday.

Warren Greatrex, trainer of Jammin Masters
He ran very well at Carlisle and we decided afterwards to wait for a good pot such as this. He stays the trip, will like the ground and should go very well.

Paul Nicholls, trainer of Favorito Buck’s
He won well at Ascot last month and has a nice racing weight. He’s in good form.

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