'We’ve had this race in mind for him for a while' - Dan Skelton eyes nice prize with Ballygrifincottage

A £50,000 handicap chase is not the usual fare for a Thursday in Britain, and while only nine runners are set to go to post, Racing Post Ratings has no more than 4lb between the lot of them and it's wide open.

Dan Skelton will certainly be keen to add the £26,000 first prize to his slender lead over Paul Nicholls in the trainers' title race, and his nine-year-old Ballygrifincottage heads the weights by 7lb and more.

There was a time when Ballygrifincottage would have been expected to be miles better than his current chase mark of 138, as he was fourth in an Albert Bartlett and he thrashed Beauport on his chase debut at Haydock.

He's had tons of problems since then, but has run well in both outings this year on good to soft ground, and this deeper surface may suit him better as it was soft when he beat Beauport and heavy when he won his novice hurdle at Lingfield's Winter Millions meeting.

The early market was headed by Your Own Story and Sure Touch, the former having returned with a promising second on his first run since finishing sixth in the Scottish National, while Sure Touch arrives on a hat-trick.

He is an easy horse to like as he has the winning habit, having landed one of his two bumpers, scored in four of his ten hurdles starts and now two of his four chases. Back-to-back career bests, one on heavy, the other on good, mark him down as versatile and progressive, and he's probably the one to beat.

The veteran Trincomalee has Warwick form figures of 11432 and cannot be ruled out, while Sure Touch's trainer Olly Murphy also saddles the Sean Bowen-ridden No Risk Des Flos, who wasn't far behind Ballygrifincottage at Sandown last time and is 4lb better off.
Analysis by Paul Kealy

Ground and weather

The going is heavy on the chase and hurdles courses after 49mm of rain in the past week, most recently 5mm on Tuesday. After a dry day on Wednesday, showers bringing 2-3mm of rain are expected before racing on Thursday.

What they say

Dan Skelton, trainer of Ballygrifincottage
We’ve had this race in mind for him for a while. He’s in good form and the track and ground should not be an issue. We're positive about his chances.

Olly Murphy: runs No Risk Des Flos and Sure TouchCredit: Patrick McCann (racingpost.com/photos)

Olly Murphy, trainer of No Risk Des Flos and Sure Touch
No Risk Des Flos has a bit of class about him, but he has underachieved a bit of late. He’ll definitely handle the ground and if he gets into a good rhythm he could be in the mix. Sure Touch is on a roll at the moment and if he gets three miles on heavy ground then he would have a good chance.

Joe Tizzard, trainer of No Hubs No Hoobs
The blinkers have helped sharpen him up and he’s won his last two. It’s a step up in grade and he’ll need to post a career best to win, but the track should suit him and we expect him to run a nice race.
Reporting by David Milnes

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