We pick out five interesting runners on day one of the Howden Christmas Racing Weekend at Ascot on Friday.
CRYSTAL ISLAND – 13:15 Ascot
CRYSTAL ISLAND is an interesting newcomer for Nicky Henderson and Jango Baie’s owners in the Howden Maiden Hurdle (2m5f) at 13.15. A good winner of a Rathcannon point-to-point on April 6, he was sold to his new connections for £205,000 11 days later at the Tattersalls Cheltenham sale and makes his Rules debut here. A four-year-old by Crystal Ocean, we’ll get a good handle on his ability with the likes of Off The Jury and Gaelic Pride in the field.
STENCIL – 13:50 Ascot
The big imposing STENCIL ran well on fencing debut in a deep race at Cheltenham, making headway into contention three out despite being keen in the early stages before he understandably weakened up the hill. He looks talented if he can channel his energy more efficiently and the hood has been added here to help him in that sense. He could be a handicap project for the spring, but either way this will be a vital next step to get more experience into him and settling better will be the first aim.
LET IT RAIN – 14:25 Ascot
The 17-runner Ascot Shop Handicap Hurdle offers a big field for Friday’s Ascot punters to get stuck into and the fascinating one here is Dan Skelton’s returning mare LET IT RAIN. The daughter of Kayf Tara looked an exciting prospect in the context of Friday’s company when she was last seen 387 days ago, that easy Wetherby success over the now 127-rated Rockola Vogue suggesting she might’ve been let in lightly off 120 in this for her handicapping debut. Given Skelton won a Greatwood with a handicap hurdling debutant who had been off the track for over a year (631 days) with West Cork, we know he's well capable of pulling this off.
NO QUESTIONS ASKED – 15:00 Ascot
The day’s feature race is the Grade 2 Howden Noel Novices’ Chase over 2m3f and Personal Ambition, denied last year’s race after a terrible mistake at the last, is back for more. His stablemate NO QUESTIONS ASKED looks the one to beat this time, however, his chasing career getting off to an excellent start after his win at this track which was followed by a very good effort in defeat behind Wendigo in the Grade 2 John Francome Novices’ Chase at Newbury. A repeat of those efforts could be enough here.
INDULTO ROUGE – 15:35 Ascot
David Pipe has a tremendous record in Ascot bumpers, winning eight such races from 14 runners at a strike-rate of 57.14% - including Friday’s closing race on three occasions in the last six years with Eden Du Houx, Israel Champ and Windbeneathmywings. This time he relies on INDULTO ROUGE for Brocade Racing and the four-year-old looked a nice prosect on his Rules debut at Hereford last month in a Bumper behind Smile John Boy, keeping on nicely for third place. An 18-length P2P winner, he merits respect – especially given he hails from Pond House.
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