Bargain buy Thistle Ask still improving

Thistle Ask’s constant progress in handicaps this season is surely something not even his trainer Dan Skelton could have envisaged, but after routing his rivals from the front in the Desert Orchid Handicap Chase at Kempton on Saturday, a crack at Grade 1 company in next month’s Clarence House Chase looks the obvious next step even if that must have been far from connections’ thoughts when he began the season from a BHA rating of just 115.

‘He hasn’t got a fancy mark, but we hope he has a winner’s mark’ said Skelton in a Stable Tour piece just before Thistle Ask made his stable debut at Kelso at the end of October. He certainly did have a winner’s mark because he hacked up under Tristan Durrell by seven lengths with plenty to spare. Sent off at 5/4, there was no shortage of confidence in Thistle Ask, either, especially after another having his first start for the yard, Diamond Dealer, had been successful earlier on the card.

Easy though his win was at Kelso in a race where the two fences in the straight were omitted because of the low sun, Thistle Ask gave the impression the track wasn’t ideal for him. He tended to hang right and jumped that way too, markedly so at what would normally have been four out, whereas flat, right-handed Kempton looked tailor-made for him yesterday. Before that latest success, though, Thistle Ask had no trouble following up his Kelso win in a premier handicap at Wetherby six days later under a penalty when again going with plenty of zest.

Striking while the iron was hot, Thistle Ask was turned out again just a week after Wetherby in the Haldon Gold Cup at Exeter, even though that meant racing from 9 lb out of the weights in the Grade 2 limited handicap. But as expected, the switch to a right-handed track resulted in a more fluent round of jumping, and with Harry Skelton forcing a pace that made sure that his rivals’ fitness and jumping were tested to the full, Thistle Ask came home with seven lengths to spare again, runner-up Saint Segal the only one still in contention in the straight.

Able to race from his proper mark in the Desert Orchid (now 31 lb higher than when he started the season), Thistle Ask was meeting Saint Segal on better terms at Kempton and turned in his best effort yet, again having his race won a long way from home thanks to some bold jumping from the front. Stringing out his rivals by the end of the back straight, by which time favourite Ryan’s Rocket had unseated five out, Thistle Ask’s task was easier as a result and he came home ten lengths clear of Saint Segal this time, again with a fair bit in hand.

Thistle Ask had begun his career in Ireland with Stuart Crawford, for whom he was pulled up in a point, had two runs in bumpers and then showed more when second in a big field of maidens over hurdles at Naas. He built on that promise for his next trainer, James Ewart, winning a maiden hurdle at Ayr by a wide margin in the spring of 2023 before a lengthy absence. He then had just two starts over fences for Ewart in the 2024/25 season, winning a handicap at Musselburgh on the second of them before going to the Goffs UK Spring Sale at Doncaster last May where he joined current connections for just £11,000 – a bargain considering his earnings for the season now top £150,000.

Asked on ITV if he’d ever trained a horse who has improved quite as much as Thistle Ask, Skelton immediately called to mind Too Many Diamonds from early in his career when the trainer was making a name for himself improving horses from other yards. Too Many Diamonds was still a maiden after more than forty starts on the Flat and over hurdles combined but was claimed by Skelton for £6,000 after finishing eighth at 40/1 in a seller at Taunton.

In the space of just eight days in May 2017, Too Many Diamonds won his first four starts in handicap hurdles for his new connections and ran up a quick hat-trick over fences as well at Southwell a year later. His first win, which came at Plumpton, was gained from a BHA mark of 72 but he ended up racing from marks in the 130s over fences.

Despite his career-best effort in the Desert Orchid, Thistle Ask had to play second fiddle to King George winner The Jukebox Man in a noteworthy 24 hours at Kempton for Ask, the sire of both chasers. A late-developing son of Sadler’s Wells, Ask made into a high-class middle-distance stayer for Sir Michael Stoute, winning the Ormonde Stakes and Cumberland Lodge Stakes at four and the Gordon Richards Stakes at five, but enjoyed his best season at six when winning the Yorkshire Cup, Coronation Cup and Prix Royal-Oak and was beaten into third by stablemates Conduit and Tartan Bearer in the King George at Ascot.

For much of his stud career, Ask stood at The Beeches Stud on Coolmore’s NH stallion roster, though his fee never rose above €3,000. Later in his career he moved to Britain and was at Willow Wood Stud in Cheshire when he died at the age of 21 in the summer of 2024.

As often seems to be the way with stallions, though, Ask has been enjoying his greatest success posthumously. Besides the emergence of The Jukebox Man and Thistle Ask, in 2025 he was also the sire of Senecia, a surprise winner of the Grade 2 Webster Cup Chase at Navan in March, The Wallpark, who was third in the Stayers’ Hurdle, and The Jukebox Man’s stablemate No Questions Asked who made a promising start to his chasing career but disappointed recently when favourite for the Noel Novices’ Chase at Ascot.

While Thistle Ask’s latest victory was more about style than substance, he was undeniably impressive, and he may well have not yet reached the limit of his improvement. A big run in the Clarence House Chase would no doubt earn him a crack at the Queen Mother Champion Chase, even if that would mean ‘going the wrong way round’, but whatever happens in the meantime, Sandown’s Celebration Chase at the end of the season might prove ideal for the bold-jumping Thistle Ask who could take some catching on a right-handed track that puts a premium on fluent fencing.