Race To Watch / Timeform / 18 November 2009 / Leave a comment Free £25 Bet

Timeform reflect on what we learned from the Steel Plate and Sections Novices' Chase...

This event featured a small but select field, with the now useful Weird Al staying on strongly to deny Knockara Beau close home on his chasing debut, on only his third career outing.

The Ian Williams-trained six-year-old had shown plenty of promise when landing a novice hurdle (hurdling debut) at Warwick in the 2008/9 season, yet had suffered a serious breathing problem since, forcing him off the track for 12 months. However, the son of Accordion showed significant improvement from that hurdling success to deny a useful and more experienced chaser in the shape of the runner-up, while suggesting that his jumping had room for improvement. Weird Al looks likely to improve over the larger obstacles and can take high rank amongst the 2009/2010 novice chasing division.

Despite being unable to maintain an unbeaten record over fences (had won maiden and minor event on first two outings), Knockara Beau ran creditably in second, and is not far off matching his useful hurdling form over the larger obstacles. The six-year-old still has scope for improvement in his jumping, having made a couple of errors in this latest start, and looks capable of winning further races over fences.

The David Pipe-trained Ashkazar set the benchmark in this race in terms of hurdling form, having shown smart form, including when landing the Grade 2 Kingwell Hurdle at Wincanton in February. Despite being unable to build on a successful chasing debut at Stratford, the five-year-old produced an improved performance back in fourth, especially when considering that he appeared to be sent for home plenty soon enough. A fluent jumper, Ashkazar still looks capable of better over fences.

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