Ben Linfoot on the Cyrname dilemma - Ascot or Wetherby for the Paul Nicholls star?

With the steam still rising from his back in the Ascot winner’s enclosure, on a cold and damp November day in 2019, Cyrname had underlined that he’d found his vocation in quite sensational style.

“For the last three years he was a bit of a hooligan,” said his champion trainer Paul Nicholls. “He wanted to do everything in one breath. Mentally he is right this year… he is maturing and needed time.”

Cyrname had just denied Altior a 20th successive victory in the Christy 1965 Chase. The last 100 horses that had faced Altior had been beaten, but Cyrname was too good, too strong.

Yet his wasn’t a usual path to the top. He improved, out of all recognition, for the removal of a hood and his trainer’s belief that he was better right-handed at the very least became a self-fulfilling prophecy as he shunned anti-clockwise tracks.

And in 2019 he became a monster going right-handed at Ascot. He raced three times, won all three and went from a 150-rated handicapper to a 176-rated Grade One behemoth, capable of sinking the very best.

In textbook Cyrname style, that wasn’t the platform for even greater feats.

He floundered when sent off the 5/4 favourite in the King George, finishing 21 lengths behind stablemate Clan Des Obeaux, before he fell, when already beaten, at odds of 4/11 when attempting to retain his crown in the Betfair Ascot Chase seven weeks’ later.

For a 176-rated eight-year-old chaser there is still a hell of a lot we don’t know about the mega-talented enigma that is Cyrname.

Does he stay three miles? Can he win going left-handed? Can he win away from Ascot? Could he handle Cheltenham? Is he as good now as he looked in 2019?

Wetherby or Ascot

This weekend, we could get the answers to some of those questions. He has two entries; one in the bet365 Charlie Hall Chase at Wetherby and the other in the Sodexo Gold Cup Handicap Chase at Ascot.

The usual caveats to seasonal debutants apply. He might not be cherry ripe for Saturday’s assignment wherever that may be. Beaten on his first run of the campaign in 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018, he won first time up for the first time ever when he beat Altior at Ascot last November, but given what happened afterwards will Nicholls really have him as fully wound up this time?

Whether he turns up at Ascot or Wetherby, he’ll be running over three miles. A definitive answer to the stamina question is not a given, but more evidence will be garnered. His performance will likely determine whether he’s targeted at the King George again, or campaigned over slightly shorter trips.

But apart from the distance, these couldn’t be much more different tests.

Ascot is a stiff, right-handed track where he’s won three times. He would have to give at least 15lb and more to the rest of the field that could include Cheltenham Festival and King George winners and horses of the calibre of Vinndication who still has untapped potential.

At Wetherby he would have a much easier task at the weights, on a much easier track, but he would be racing left-handed for the first time in eight starts, since he was fourth behind Finian’s Oscar at Aintree in the 2018 Manifesto Novices’ Chase.

His only other two forays left-handed for Nicholls were at Newbury and Chepstow, where he was also beaten on both occasions.

It’s a tough call for the Ditcheat maestro. Speaking on the Nick Luck Daily Podcast on Tuesday morning he talked through his thought process on the situation and hinted he’ll leave the decision as late as possible, until declaration time on Thursday.

“We’ve rerouted to the Charlie Hall,” he said before slight hesitation. “But he still has the entry at Ascot as well in the three mile handicap. It’s quite a valuable race and as we know he does like Ascot.

“I’ll have a chat with Johnny [de la Hey, owner] later and try and make a definite plan.

“At Ascot to run off 176 would be a huge task, but as Frodon showed on Saturday top weights can win those handicaps and you do keep an awful lot of horses out of the handicap.

“It’s not ruled out, we haven’t finalised anything yet. The weights of the Charlie Hall would probably suit him better but it is a bit of unknown because we’re going left-handed.”

Worth the weight

The Frodon factor is clearly at the forefront of his mind and he’s right, Grade One horses can and do win handicaps when allowed to take their chance.

Since 1997 a total of 35 horses rated north of 169 have contested handicaps in the UK and Ireland and 11 of them won at a strike-rate of 31.43%. Nicholls trained 12 of them and four of them were first; See More Business in the Rehearsal Chase at Chepstow, Azertyuiop in the Haldon Gold Cup, Denman in his second Hennessy and Poquelin in the Silver Trophy Chase at Cheltenham’s April meeting.

Dublin Flyer, Mr Mulligan, Suny Bay, Well Chief and Sire De Grugy are other members of the Horses Rated 170+ To Have Won Handicaps Club and their performances in such races added significant gloss to their legacies.

How differently, for instance, would Denman be remembered were it not for his weight-carrying performances at Newbury?

For a horse like Cyrname, a weight-lumping handicap victory would give significant credence to the argument that he deserves a rating nudging 180. Depending on the style of such a win, he might even usurp that magic number. It could help define him.

If he’s going to do something like that, you would think he’d do it at his beloved Ascot. Yet such a performance, over a trip he’s unproven over, would require him to go where he hasn’t been before and Nicholls would run the risk of bottoming him on his first start of the campaign.

A trip to Wetherby, on the other hand, would likely be a much more gentler introduction to the upcoming season.

While there are 20 entries at the six-day stage, eight have alternative assignments this weekend and history says a likely small field will be served up.

That would suit Cyrname given his style of running and while there is obviously a question mark about him going left-handed, he’s a very different horse now to the one that was beaten going the other way around a few seasons ago.

First time up could be a good time to test the waters in that regard, with a view to the rest of the season, and if I were Nicholls I’d want to find out now if Cheltenham and Aintree should be coming into his thinking for the second half of the campaign.

Star attraction

If Cyrname does go to Wetherby, he’ll be the joint-best horse, along with Cue Card, to have run at the track this century on official ratings.

Six horses rated 170 or higher at the time have run at the track since 2000; See More Business, Well Chief, Poquelin, Long Run, Silviniaco Conti and Cue Card.

Apart from Well Chief, who fell at the fourth last when odds-on favourite for the Castleford Chase in (January) 2005, all of them ran in the Charlie Hall and only Nicholls’ See More Business won the race when he was sent off at 1/3 against three rivals in 2000.

Poquelin could only manage fifth to Weird Al, Long Run finished in the same position behind Harry Topper, Silviniaco Conti was also fifth to Menorah in 2014 and Cue Card was third to Irish Cavalier in 2016. Both Silviniaco Conti and Cue Card won the Wetherby feature earlier in their careers, when they were-not-quite-rated in the 170s.

Perhaps significantly, defeat in the Charlie Hall did Silviniaco Conti no harm whatsoever. Nicholls went and won the Betfair Chase and the King George with him in the immediate months after his loss in West Yorkshire.

It’s an intriguing conundrum for Nicholls. But his decision could well tell us plenty about what he feels Cyrname is capable of this season.

The Ascot approach might hint at the short-term, a shot at weight-carrying glory at his favourite track while in prime condition. A trip to Wetherby, on the other hand, could suggest his seasonal return is a platform, for who knows what if things go well going left-handed.

Whether he ventures north or south, all eyes will be on Cyrname this Saturday. He remains box office and the next chapter in his story is as important as any of those that came before it.