We have waited patiently for this so tuck in and enjoy every single bite

Day in a nutshell

When you spend six days nibbling on lettuce a nine-course tasting menu in one of the fanciest restaurants in town could not have come at a better time. Tuck in, you have earned every bite.

This day last week ITV4 showed an 80-109 handicap hurdle for conditional riders from Naas. Today the same channel will show ten races across four different tracks and eight of them are Graded races.

There are 444 runners in all today, at six venues in Britain and Ireland, so if you cannot find something to quell your appetite you are definitely in the wrong game. This is as good as it gets away from Cheltenham.

Ascot is the main course with last week's rearranged Betfair Hurdle and Denman Chase added to the Betfair Ascot Chase, the highlight of a marathon nine-race card, and given what we have all been through in these last ten days, there would be no more topical winner than Waiting Patiently.

Waiting Patiently out in the snow last March with Ruth JeffersonCredit: Louise Pollard

Don’t forget Haydock, although you might have forgotten all about Yanworth who returns from 338 days off in the Rendlesham Hurdle. Just the eight races to sink your teeth into there, including the Grand National Trial.

Sceau Royal is showing up at Wincanton and, while there is no Presenting Percy, the Red Mills Chase at Gowran Park is worth watching.

You will be stuffed be the time the 6f handicap at Kempton is over tonight. Get the Rennies ready.

We all have nine lives at Ascot

Saturdays like this one are very scarce. We all remember high winds forcing Cheltenham to turn four days into three at the 2008 festival where a ten-race Thursday card was followed by nine races on Friday but there has only been one other National Hunt card which has hosted more than eight races since 2000.

That was at Cheltenham on the final Saturday of January in 2017 when the Clarence House Chase was rerouted from Ascot to help make up a nice-race card. Winners that day included Many Clouds, Defi Du Seuil, Un De Sceaux and Unowhatimeanharry.

Many Clouds (left) gallantly overhauls Thistlecrack in a dramatic Cotswold Chase in JanuaryCredit: Alan Crowhurst

A nine-race card away from the all-weather is very rare indeed so make sure to avail of the occasion at Ascot. It doesn’t happen very often.

The nine races don't lack star power either, with Clan Des Obeaux the headline act. Is he a genuine Magners Gold Cup contender or were we told a fib in the King George? Beating Terrefort in the Betfair Denman Chase will make his more believable.

Harry Cobden looks round for non-existent dangers as Clan Des Obeaux beats Thistlecrack to win the King GeorgeCredit: Edward Whitaker

Percy missing but quality quartet remain

We all cried into our cornflakes when realising Presenting Percy was not declared for the Red Mills Chase (2.30) at Gowran Park but, while the absence of the Magners Gold Cup favourite is desperately disappointing, the quartet who remain are all rated 157 or higher and three of them are Grade 1 winners.

Strangely, the odd one out is Anibale Fly who has never won a Grade 1 before but is the highest-rated of the lot with a mark of 164.
Edwulf was successful in last year’s Irish Gold Cup, Monalee won the Flogas Novice Chase on the same card at Leopardstown, while Killultagh Vic turned over Thistlecrack in the Irish Daily Mirror Novice Hurdle at Punchestown in 2015.

Monalee: is a high class prospectCredit: Patrick McCann (racingpost.com/photos)

Novices the key for valuable Betfair Hurdle

There is the typically competitive Betfair Hurdle with 14 runners and many believe we might see the Supreme winner lurking in there, be it Al Dancer or Didtheyleaveuoutto.

It’s a perfectly logical conclusion, given seven of the last nine renewals of the valuable handicap hurdle – albeit not as valuable as usual since salvaged from its usual Newbury home – have been won by novices.

However, last year’s winner Kalashnikov went on to be agonisingly denied on the run-in in the festival curtain raiser and it was a similar story for My Tent Or Yours, who annihilated the field in the 2013 Betfair Hurdle only to fill the runner-up spot in the Supreme a month later.

Therefore, if either of the fancied pair triumph at Ascot, let history be a warning with regards to their Cheltenham claims. Win and their price will be cut, but that doesn’t mean they’ll be winning next time. Far from it.

The right way around for Politologue

Waiting Patiently is the defending champion of the Ascot Chase and it was the ease with which he breezed past Cue Card in the race 12 months ago which made us realise this was no ordinary chaser.

We were deprived of finding out whether he was the real deal or not in the King George at Kempton as Bristol De Mai’s tumble left him with nowhere to go and he got rid of Brian Hughes at the ninth fence right in front of the stands. Barring accidents, the secret will get out today. His five rivals are rated 161 or higher and they include Politologue, unbeaten around Ascot, so the time has come for the truth to come out.

Politologue’s has won seven of his eight starts on right-handed tracks, with his only reverse going that way around arriving in the King George when he was trying three miles for the first time. He is unbeaten going right-handed at all trips less than three miles over hurdles and fences.

Apart from the King George, his eight other defeats in Britain were going left-handed, including four times at Cheltenham and twice at Newbury.

Politologue is two from two at Ascot, with his most recent visit seeing him give 6lb to Charbel over today’s course and distance.

Tough cookie fancies another battle

It might go unnoticed on such a busy afternoon but the opener at Haydock, the William Hill Victor Ludorum Juvenile Hurdle, has been a stepping stone to stardom over the years.

Top Notch was too good for his three rivals in 2015, while 4-1 shot Frodon shocked 1-4 favourite Fixe Le Kap in 2016. If we only knew then what we know now, eh?

This year's renewal features a fascinating clash between Quel Destin and the unbeaten Torpillo.

Quel Destin showed class and bravery to win the Finale Juvenile HurdleCredit: Alan Crowhurst (Getty Images)

He may be only four but you will struggle to find a tougher cookie than Quel Destin who simply refuses to take no for an answer. He has won his last three starts by a combined total of less than two lengths and the way he fought back to beat Adjali in the Grade 1 Finale Juvenile Hurdle at Chepstow over Christmas was heartwarming stuff.

Paul Nicholls said he was tough after he won at Cheltenham. His daughter, Megan, said he is very tough after he won at Doncaster, His assistant trainer, Harry Derham, hailed him as very, very tough following his Chepstow success.

Torpillo will need to be very, very, very tough to take him down. What a tasty appetiser that will be.

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