Saturday reaction: 'He's thrown a grenade into the Champion Hurdle market'

Should the mares be worried? Epatante and Honeysuckle remain strong at the top of the Unibet Champion Hurdle market but connections of both will now be throwing anxious glances over their shoulders after Goshen returned to his swashbuckling best in the Kingwell Hurdle.

Jamie Moore had several glances over his own shoulder on the run-in, but anxiety was far from his mind as Goshen slammed his Grade 2 rivals and threw a grenade into the betting for Cheltenham's opening day showpiece, a race for which he is now as short as 4-1 with the sponsors.

The official winning distance was 22 lengths from Song For Someone and while it must be noted Goshen was receiving 6lb from the 11-10 favourite, he was value for more after being eased down by Moore after clearing the last hurdle.

After a few worrying runs his Cheltenham credentials now look solid and Goshen has already shown he can handle the track following last year's infamous Triumph Hurdle, the form of which is looking particularly strong given the performances of Aspire Tower and Allmankind this season.

Dashel Drasher is the new Ascot specialist

It may not have worked out as the strongest Grade 1 in the world but that mattered little for jockey Matt Griffiths as he claimed a first top-level triumph on the improving Dashel Drasher in the Ascot Chase.

The Jeremy Scott-trained eight-year-old appears to have taken over Cyrname's mantle as the Ascot king after completing a course-and-distance hat-trick and was trimmed to 16-1 (from 25) for the Ryanair Chase at Cheltenham.

Drashel Drasher: on target once again at AscotCredit: Mark Cranham (racingpost.com/photos)

Dashel Drasher showed superb battling qualities to overcome a mistake at the last with Master Tommytucker looming in behind and while it's difficult to see him overturning a set of higher-class rivals at Cheltenham, he has more than earned his spot among them.

Nicholls faces huge task in fixing broken Cyrname

In the aftermath of the Ascot Chase many eyes remained focused on another disappointing showing from Cyrname, who was swiftly pulled up with five fences left after showing no response to the urgings of Harry Cobden.

Connections and supporters of Cyrname have become accustomed to the star chaser mixing the spectacular with the awful, but the fact he has done the latter at his beloved Ascot over an ideal 2m5f trip suggests there is something deeper at play.

Cyrname: connections will be searching for answers after another poor displayCredit: Dan Abraham

Nicholls' representative at the track reported to the BHA stewards that a respiratory issue may have been to blame and the trainer now faces a huge challenge to get his spluttering star back on track.

Sensational Skeltons hitting top form at perfect time

You would be hard pushed to find a jockey riding with more confidence right now than Harry Skelton, who continued a red-hot run of form with a 320-1 treble at Ascot.

The three winners were all trained by brother Dan and brought up a century of winners for team Skelton for the sixth successive year as they hit top form at the perfect time with the Cheltenham Festival a little over three weeks away.

Harry Skelton: continued his superb run of form with a treble at AscotCredit: Michael Steele (Getty Images)

Skelton's two rides on Shannon Bridge and Captain Chaos – who held off the charging veteran Regal Encore in the Swinley Chase – oozed class and positivity and he has now ridden 15 winners in the last fortnight.

The jockey would have surpassed a century of winners for the fifth time last season were it not for the coronavirus pandemic shortening the campaign, and he is now just six wins away from reaching that landmark again after another terrific day.

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