Ben Jones is "quietly excited" to be back on board Handstands, who he believes can show his true colours in the bet365 Charlie Chase at Wetherby on Saturday.
After a prolific novice campaign over fences, the Ben Pauling-trained seven-year-old appeared to lose his way last term, failing to register a win in four starts.
That leaves him with a few questions to answer but his jockey s feels the Tim Radford-owned gelding has shaped much more like his old self this autumn ahead of his return in the Grade Two contest. And with the son of Getaway having enjoyed a couple of away days in Lambourn to get prepared for his tilt at the £100,000 feature, connections are confident of a bold show.
Jones said: “To be honest we can’t put last season down to anything. His first run at Carlisle was his best run of the season, and we thought he would come on for it, but it just went downhill from there.
“Sometimes when they have had a hard novice season it does take its toll, but he is such a hardy character that we didn’t think it would happen with him. Every run nothing came back, but this year he seems completely different. His work was always okay at home, but this autumn it has been above average.
“He has been to Lambourn a couple of times. Normally with ours we can get them 80% fit at home and if they have been away once then that should put them spot on. He has done all his work at home, and been away a couple of times. I would be quietly confident his fitness shouldn’t be a problem as he has done a lot more work than the average horse at the yard.
“I’m quietly excited, as if we have got the horse we think we have got then hopefully we can give Pic D’Orhy a run for his money."
Some have questioned whether Handstands truly stays three miles but Jones is confident the trip is no issue given his victory over the same distance in the Grade Two Betfair Esher Novices’ Chase at Sandown Park back in December 2024.
He added: “The only thing I ever go back to is that he won on soft, heavy ground over three miles at Sandown Park, and there are not many more testing tracks than that. Fair enough, it wasn’t in proper open company, but when he won the Scilly Isles on soft ground over two-and-a-half miles that is probably the same as three miles around Wetherby on decent ground.
"I’m a full believer that he is a stayer, he is bred to stay, and although he has got a bit of class about him he isn’t the quickest in his work at home. The more times you go up the gallop the better he feels, so I’m a big believer in that he is a stayer. I just don’t think we saw him at all last season. It would be hard to judge him off last year’s form and say that he doesn’t stay.”
While Handstands has work to do on official figures to master last year’s runner-up Pic D’Orhy, who will be making his debut for Dan Skelton, Jones believes that the race is a logical starting point to get his campaign up and running.
"It is the perfect starting point for him. Pic D’Orhy wasn’t running badly last season so the Skelton team will not have to improve him much for him to maintain his ability. He is probably a good flagbearer, in the sense that we will know what we have got after Saturday," he added.
“He is a proper graded horse, and while Handstands has won in graded company as a novice he hasn’t gone to the next level yet, and I think Saturday will tell us more. If we go off his novice form he will be bang there, but if he goes off last season’s form he will struggle to get round. There is no point sugar coating it, and I would say if he doesn’t run well on Saturday he won’t run well all season as we can’t get him in any better shape.”
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