Luke Harvey aiming for hunter chase breakthrough with ex-JP McManus horse at Hereford on Monday

The Front Runner is our morning email exclusively for Members' Club Ultimate subscribers, written today by Chris Cook and available here as a free sample.

Subscribers can get more great insight, tips and racing chat from The Front Runner every Monday to Friday. Those who aren't yet signed up for The Front Runner should click here to sign up and start receiving emails immediately!

Not a Members' Club Ultimate subscriber? Click here to join today and also receive our Ultimate Daily emails plus our full range of fantastic website and newspaper content.

Luke Harvey is back on a racecard as a trainer for the first time in two years, thanks to the hunter chase that ends Hereford action on Monday (4.30).

The ITV Racing presenter is well known for training a few point-to-pointers and once in a while they turn up in a race under rules – although Monday could be the first time he actually wins such a race. 

The betting market doesn't much fancy his Notre Pari but the trainer begs to differ. We'll come back to that. First, there's the reason why he won't be there.

There were sounds of revelry in the background when he returned the Front Runner's call last night and Harvey explained he was at an Alpine ski resort with a bunch of mates, most of them ex-jockeys. If you're like me, you think about favourite horses when the names of old-time riders come up – Harvey (Cool Ground) is apparently keeping the company of Chris Maude (Young Hustler), Simon McNeill (Katabatic) and Anthony Tory (King's Fountain) among others.

"I've been going on this trip with the lads for about ten or 15 years," he says. So there was no getting out of it, even for a hunter chase at Hereford. It sounds as though drink may have been taken and Harvey is very clearly having a great time but there is also a real twinge of regret at the idea of not being there for his runner.

Charlotte, who has been Mrs Harvey for about a year and a half, will do the honours in his absence. "He'll be much better turned out," Harvey says of Notre Pari.

Three firms chalked the horse up at 25-1 around 5pm last night but perhaps Harvey and his mates took a sporting interest from afar because he was down to a general 14-1 within a few hours. I suppose it may not take a very large amount of money to shorten an outsider in a Monday hunter chase. He is now a best-price 10-1, following the withdrawal of Bennys King.

You might remember Notre Pari. He used to be with Olly Murphy and was carrying the colours of JP McManus in a Warwick novice hurdle in 2019 when he ran on so promisingly into third that I'm sure he went into a lot of notebooks. He won his first handicap and started favourite for the Lanzarote but looked beaten when taking a late fall. 

Sadly, he didn't progress in line with the early hopes that must have been held for him. Harvey got hold of him at the start of last year and counts himself lucky.

"If you went in the press room and found the nicest, kindest guy in there, this horse is that guy," he says. "He's just lovely. I ride him every day, he's an absolute legend, a really fun horse. He won a massive trophy for us last year at Paxford, our local point-to-point." 

So what should we make of his chance at Hereford? "It's quite a hot race. 

"Still, he needs to go right-handed, he loves this sort of distance, Toby McCain is one of the best jockeys you'll get, he gets a lot of weight off the others. He probably won't win but it would be no surprise to me if he runs really well. 

"I mean that. He's going well." 

Luke Harvey celebrates training a point-to-point winnerCredit: Steve Dennis

Doubtfully, the Front Runner mentions Notre Pari's form figures for this point-to-point season: P4. But it turns out that they might easily have looked rather more promising. 

"The first time he ran, at Dunsmore, he was absolutely bolting up and the saddle slipped forward and he had to be pulled up. He would have won a minute." 

Argh, the frustrations of the great game. And there might easily be more on Monday because the opposition is strong. 

Among Notre Pari's rivals is Cat Tiger, runner-up in the Aintree Foxhunters a couple of years ago.

As Harvey points out, hunter chases might not be the most popular races but this one features some of the best horses on the card. 

How important is training in Harvey's life? "Massive. I love it. 

"Quite often I wouldn't stay over with ITV, so I can ride Notre Pari the next day. I ride him every single day. I love that horse. 

"It's just my life. And you never stop learning from horses. It's literally mine and Charlotte's passion." 

It so happens that Harvey's last three runners under rules have finished second, a streak that started with a narrow defeat at Leicester in February 2019. It would be a pity, in a way, if he happened to be out of the country when his luck as a trainer finally turned but I dare say the French bartenders have some of the right stuff to help him mark the occasion.

Notre Pari16:30 Hereford

View Racecard

Jky: Mr Toby McCain-Mitchell (7lb)Tnr: Luke Harvey

Read these next:

13 wins from 18 rides: Paul Townend in ludicrously red-hot form for loaded book of Dublin Racing Festival rides 

What's on this week: all roads lead to Leopardstown for fantastic Dublin Racing Festival 

It's a girl! First foal by Shadwell's champion Baaeed has arrived

The Front Runner is our unmissable email newsletter available exclusively to Members' Club Ultimate subscribers. Chris Cook, the reigning Racing Writer of the Year, provides his take on the day's biggest stories and tips for the upcoming racing every morning from Monday to Friday. Not a Members' Club Ultimate subscriber? Click here to join today and also receive our Ultimate Daily emails plus our full range of fantastic website and newspaper content.