Alex Hammond: Crowd pleasers | Newcastle and Newbury in the spotlight

Wow, we’ve seen some spectacular performances over the past week. The chasing debut of Shishkin definitely tops that heap, but a couple of horses I highlighted for you last week, Chantry House and Imperial Aura, also staked their claims for top honours this season with their respective wins at Ascot.

When I say “we’ve seen”, what I mean is you’ve seen on TV and I was lucky enough to catch a couple IRL (in real life). That could be about to change thank goodness, with the surprise news this week that limited crowds will be allowed to attend sporting events after Lockdown 2.0 ends on Tuesday.

This is superb news for our sport, but crucially is superb news for you. I’ve been lucky enough that lockdown hasn’t changed my life considerably since it was first imposed and the country ground to a halt. It has meant more protocol of course, quieter roads, less trips to the pub on a Sunday afternoon after a long dog walk and sadly very little contact with my family, but otherwise my life has ticked along nicely for which I’m extremely grateful.

That hasn’t meant that the plight of others hasn’t played on my mind though. If we can all get back to enjoying our wonderful sport together that will make me extremely happy.

I was at Doncaster for day one of their pilot to allow crowds back into sporting events and for one day only the joy of racegoers was infectious (the only thing we want to be infectious going forward) and we all were united in our love for our sport. It will look rather different for a time and there will be no high fives, impromptu hugs for both celebration and consolation, but we’ll be back. Long may that continue and hopefully I’ll see you at a racecourse soon.

The lifting of restrictions won’t come in time for Newcastle and Newbury this weekend which is disappointing for those venues on their big days, but there will be a real treat offered up in your living rooms.

I’m covering the action at Newcastle for Sky Sports Racing on a busy day of racing on Saturday where we will see the return of Champion Hurdle heroine Epatante in the Grade 1 Fighting Fifth Hurdle.

On all known form she will be hard to beat, but that’s what we thought about Buveur D’Air last year when Cornerstone Lad overhauled the hot favourite. That came in unfortunate circumstances though with Nicky Henderson’s star suffering a freak injury and providing fate doesn’t strike again, I’d expect this year’s strong favourite to come home in front, particularly with Newcastle producing perfect good ground which is right up her street.

Mind you, she’s 4/7 with Sky Bet to do so and add to champion trainer Nicky Henderson’s superb record in the race. If she wins she will join Landing Light (2001), Punjabi (2008), My Tent Or Yours (2013) and Buveur D’Air (2017/18) as his sixth winner of this prestigious contest. To play devil’s advocate, the Champion Hurdle last season wasn’t of the highest calibre so she isn’t as rock solid as some of Henderson’s former winners.

Rather more competitive is the Rehearsal Chase later in the afternoon where recent Southern National winner Cloudy Glen is one of the protagonists for Venetia Williams. He looks a really exciting staying chaser judging on that Fontwell win.

He’s been a handful to deal with though and won at the Sussex track despite running freely early on, so the fact he stayed on well shows there’s much more under the bonnet. I’d just be worried that the ground isn’t soft enough for him so I’ll look elsewhere and hope I’m not proven wrong.

On the other hand the decent underfoot conditions will really suit Nicky Henderson’s Pym and he’s one I’m happy to side with in this three-mile handicap chase. He reappeared in a three runner Intermediate Chase and made all to win on just his sixth start over fences.

He stays well and this sort of test should suit him as he’s a relentless galloper. He has some smart form as a novice including beating Imperial Aura at Cheltenham, so hopefully his handicap mark doesn’t overestimate him. He’s Sky Bet’s 5/1 favourite.

Away from Newcastle and Newbury stage some superb racing this weekend featuring the Ladbrokes Trophy on Saturday (do we need to refer to this as the race formerly known as the Hennessy anymore?).

It has the same open look as usual with some lovely horses in the potential line-up, albeit we may not have a potential superstar in there as we have in the past. I’m a big fan of Vinndication though who hails from the in-form Kim Bailey yard; Two For Gold is also likely to represent the trainer.

David Bridgwater’s The Conditional is a horse I backed at the Cheltenham festival and it was satisfying to see him win the Ultima. On the face of it he should give Vinndication something to think about having beaten him that day, but I’d be a touch concerned it’s The Conditional’s seasonal debut and it’s a tough race to win if you’re not fully tuned up. So, I’m sticking with the Charlie Hall runner-up Vinndication who is a 7/1 shot with Sky Bet.

As you know I was keen on Ibleo for Ascot’s Hurst Park Handicap Chase last weekend, but he didn’t run there. It looks like he could be heading to Newbury on Saturday instead where I’d fancy his chances of winning the Ladbrokes Handicap Chase at 3.35pm.

The form of his narrow defeat at Ascot last month is working out well with his conqueror Amoola Gold losing nothing in his second place to First Flow back at Ascot last weekend. He’s 7/2 with Sky Bet to win the Newbury race.

Paisley Park returns 24 hours earlier in the Long Distance Hurdle at the Berkshire track and it’s a retrieval mission for Emma Lavelle’s staying star. It transpired he was suffering from a defibrillating heart when he disappointed in the Stayers Hurdle at the Cheltenham festival, which explains his below par effort.

I interviewed his trainer earlier in the week on Sky Sports Racing and was very encouraged by what she told us. The heart issue righted itself and he is showing all the right signs at home having come in from his summer break a bit earlier than usual. He meets some new rivals, which as Emma said is always scary, but I hope his class shines through and he can begin the path to regaining his crown at Cheltenham in March.

The aforementioned rivals that he hasn’t faced are exciting novices McFabulous and Thyme Hill. Of that duo it’s McFabulous that I’d be most worried about. He is held in very high regard by trainer Paul Nicholls and seems to be fulfilling the potential that his connections hoped he had.

He is considered a Gold Cup prospect in the long run and if things don’t go to plan in this he could be chasing sooner rather than later. However, Nicholls feels a season over hurdles will do him good and he’s exciting. The step up to 3 miles won’t be a problem. You can see why Emma Lavelle feels it’s scary meeting unknown quantities like that! Paisley Park is 7/4 favourite with Sky Bet and McFabulous is a 5/2 shot.

So plenty to see and enjoy this weekend, but I hope I’ll see you on a racecourse sometime soon.