Handicap Hints: Yeah Man rating to spark debate, Imperial Saint may go under the radar

Man, what a day for handicap fans...

Randox Grand National weights day isn’t quite what it once was, and that is largely for the better, but I enjoy Martin Greenwood’s approach as he’s not one to sit on the fence - as it were.

Take Spanish Harlem. He cleared the vast majority of the fences but unseated rider at the final obstacle in the Thyestes when last sighted and while the Irish handicappers erred on the side of caution, nudging him up 4lb from 150 to 154, Greenwood was perfectly happy to slap another 5lb on top of that for Aintree, in the view that the horse had traded at about 2/9 in-running and would have won the Gowran race had Sean Cleary-Farrell remained intact.

We’ll never know that for sure, of course we won’t, but at least we know where the British handicapper of staying chasers stands on the matter.

In what is quite an attack on the senses for somebody who tries to keep on top of major handicap races, Tuesday also saw the Cheltenham Festival entries revealed for all 12 handicaps.

Trawling through the lists can be a fun exercise but it’s largely pointless until we have all the ratings for the Irish horses set in stone this time next week, and in terms of actually striking a bet on these races, there’s arguably no worse time to be parting with your cash.

One horse I’ll be keeping an eye on, though, is Yeah Man. His trainer Gavin Cromwell seemingly flirted with the idea of running high-class chaser Only By Night off a relatively lowly mark in a handicap hurdle at the Dublin Racing Festival, something I discussed earlier in the series.

She wasn’t declared in the end and appears to be on course for the Mrs Paddy Power Mares’ Chase but stablemate Yeah Man, who is number 58 on the Grand National pecking order with a mark of 143, has just the one Cheltenham entry having qualified for the Pertemps Final Handicap Hurdle when beaten less than a length in the Leopardstown qualifier off just 118 over Christmas.

He’s since been pulled-up in the aforementioned Thyestes and made no more of an impression when dropped back to two miles in last Saturday’s Red Mills Trial Hurdle at the same venue, but what are the BHA going to do with him now, I wonder?

He’s already run five times in the UK, which should help give us a steer. He won Haydock’s Grand National Trial off a mark of 133 in 2024 after looking a shade unlucky in two outings at Ascot earlier that season, before unseating in the same Haydock contest last February and finishing ninth off 144 in the Kim Muir (11/1 SP).

They were all over fences, so maybe Greenwood’s nous will be called upon again when the British hurdling team come to put a number by his name next Tuesday. That figure now stands at 123 in Ireland, with a 20lb discrepancy between it and his chase mark which is also 143 back home.

At The Races columnist Kevin Blake annually reminds us that it’s not unusual for the odd Irish horse to be put in 8-10lb higher in the ratings when they come to Cheltenham in March, while I vaguely recall Gordon Elliott’s Ardhill facing a 15lb hike had he taken up his entry a couple of years ago (he didn’t, unsurprisingly).

Ruby Walsh clearly wasn’t afraid to express that he felt an extra 5lb for Spanish Harlem was on the harsh side at yesterday’s luncheon in Liverpool, although I suspect he’ll be holding Cromwell’s beer once the trainer sees something in the region of 138 for the nine-year-old Pertemps hope.

In reality, anything below that could be argued as being lenient.

Saint not just a flat-track bully

Elsewhere, Waterford Whisper is among the five potential runners for JP McManus in this year’s Kim Muir Handicap Chase, along with Jeriko Du Reponet, Montregard, Aworkinprogress and the aptly-named Uhavemeinstiches, given that four of them sit at the top of the antepost market as things stand.

Henry De Bromhead’s horse has also been given the option of the TrustATrader Plate on the Tuesday, as well as the Jack Richards Novices’ Chase on the same afternoon as the Kim Muir (Thursday), but it’s the three and a quarter-miler that appeals most to me following his eyecatching run in the ‘O’Driscolls’ over almost two and three-quarter miles at the DRF (replay below).

Rated 130, it’s going take a rise of Ardhill proportions to take him above the 0-145 ceiling of the Kim Muir.

In the Ultima, I was pleased to see the entry for Imperial Saint, largely because I came quite close to recommending him at big prices in Tuesday’s Antepost Value Bet preview of the National.

He’d have stamina to prove if rocking up at Aintree but he’s bred for staying distances, as he underlined when toughing it out from Richmond Lake in last month’s Peter Marsh at Haydock. Neither the runner-up, nor fourth home Myretown, have done much for the form since but Konfusion was third and he held a Gold Cup entry until recently so I’m still taking a positive view of the form.

Imperial Saint obviously likes flat, left-handed tracks but I’m not sure there’s quite enough evidence yet to categorically state he hates Cheltenham and, having gone up just 3lb for the Haydock win, he’s just the sort of horse I can see myself backing on the opening day of the Festival as he might get a bit overlooked, especially if the sexy-looking novices show up as well.

Cracking chance again?

Before all that we have the bet365 Morebattle Hurdle at Kelso in 10 days’ time, the weights for which have also been made public.

I seriously doubt we’ll be seeing Khrisma north of the border as she looked to book her County Hurdle ticket with a cosy success at Market Rasen in the week, but I Started A Joke has predictably been installed as favourite.

Charles Byrnes’ charge was bumped up 6lb from 126 to 132 in Ireland after his good second to Bowensonfire at the DRF and the BHA’s 138 doesn’t look excessively harsh.

Course regular Cracking Rhapsody, who has won the past two editions of the Morebattle off 127 and 132, before adding the Scottish Champion Hurdle to his tally when rated 137 at Ayr last April, is back down to 136 and seems likely to remain a player here as he’s still only seven and had undergone a breathing operation before his last run at Haydock.

Published at 16:20 GMT on 18/02/26

Handicap Hints series

• Kempton prize in Skelton sights
• Who qualified for Festival handicaps at the DRF? (04/02/26)
• Quebecois, Bold Endeavour & Only By Night worth noting (28/01/26)
• Let It Rain for Milldam (21/01/26)
• Grand plans not necessarily for the better (14/01/26)
• Imperial Saint well-treated horse (07/01/26)
• In d’Or, Fiercely Proud & O’Connell (10/12/25)
• Regent's Stroll a long-term project (03/12/25)
• Keep tabs on Navajo Indy (26/11/25)
• Not all Bad for Pauling (19/11/25)
• Johnny be good fit for Becher (12/11/25)
• De Bromhead improver in Paddy Power 05/11/25)
• Introducing the column (22/10/25)

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