Michael Scudamore is looking forward to running Do Your Job over fences for the first time in the Stan Mellor Memorial Novices' Chase at Warwick on Friday.
This is the second year the contest has been named in honour of the late Stan Mellor MBE, the first Jump jockey to ride 1,000 winners who sadly passed away aged 83 in August last year.
The two-mile contest has produced some smart winners in recent years, including Kalashnikov (2018) and Allmankind (2020), and Scudamore is hoping Do Your Job can add his name to the roll of honour.
The seven year old enjoyed a productive campaign as a novice hurdler last season, signing off with a fine effort to finish second behind Belfast Banter in the Grade One Betway Top Novices' Hurdle at Aintree in April.
Scudamore is looking forward to seeing what the son of Fame And Glory can do over fences this season.
He said: “Do Your Job is in really good heart and summered very well, so I couldn’t be happier with him. He’s a big strong horse and we’ve been looking forward to going chasing with him for a long time.
“He just kept on improving all season really last year and probably ran his best so far when he went to Aintree. He’s a big strong horse and we’d always hope that he’d make a better chaser than he did a hurdler, so hopefully come Friday he can start to prove that.
“He’s done everything very well at home schooling wise and is a former point to point winner, so hopefully he can show that on the track. He’s certainly the highest-rated horse we’ve ever had to go chasing with, so it’s very exciting and nerve wrecking at the same time. It’s the sort of nervousness you want of course and it’s lovely to be going racing with a horse of this calibre – hopefully he can continue where he left off last season.”
Stan Mellor enjoyed plenty of success at Warwick, where he rode 37 winners including the Warwick Chase on Crudwell, a winner of 50 races of which 16 came at Warwick.
And while Scudamore revealed that he didn’t know him personally, he felt it was a fitting tribute to a man who was a close friend to his family.
He added: “I didn’t know Stan personally, but I know that he was obviously very good friends with both my father and my grandfather, so I know all about him without having had the pleasure to have met him. He was a great name in Jump racing and it’s a fitting tribute for sure.”
The Scudamore team is also set to be represented at Wincanton on Saturday with Some Chaos set to take in the feature Listed 60th Badger Beer Handicap Chase. The 10 year old was a comfortable winner on his seasonal reappearance at Chepstow last month.
The Herefordshire handler commented: “He ran well in the race last year to finish fifth, but we kind of went there as an afterthought as he’d had a busy period leading up to it.
“He ran really well at Chepstow last month and won nicely there, so it’s always been the plan after that to come here now. The ground should be ideal for him. He loves the better ground and he’s won here before so it’s a track that he likes and hopefully he goes there with a really good chance on Saturday.
“I think the wind surgery has really helped him, he didn’t really finish his races last season and we could never really put our finger on it as to why but we got the wind op done over the summer and he’s just been very good since. I think that was the best performance he’s ever put in on the track last time out and he’s come out of it looking a picture, so I can’t wait for Saturday for him.”
