14:25 Cheltenham

Friday 9 December 2022

All12:4013:1513:5014:2515:0015:35

Dahlbury Handicap Chase (Premier Handicap) (GBB Race)

Off time: 14:25 | Winning time: 6m 49.52s

Commodore²⁴⁴

Age: 10| Weight: 12-0| J: Charlie Deutsch| T: Miss V Williams| OR: 142| CD

11/2

Back from a wind op when bolting up in this corresponding event on reappearance last season. Easy to put a line through his Grand National effort and with the yard enjoying plenty of success with horses making their seasonal reappearances last week, he merits serious consideration.

Form: 2U9P/10-

Eva's Oskar^v²⁶

Age: 8| Weight: 11-12| J: Alan Johns| T: Tim Vaughan| OR: 140

8/1

Made up into a very useful handicap chaser last season and stepped up on his reappearance with a career-best effort when runner-up at this track (27.3f, good to soft) last month. Fancied to be competitive again nudged back up 1 lb.

Form: 2P41-62

Broken Quest^p,t²⁸

Age: 10| Weight: 11-11| J: Stan Sheppard| T: David Dennis| OR: 139

16/1

Better than ever this spring, rattling off a quick-fire hat-trick in decisive fashion at Market Rasen (23.8f) in May. Stepped up on his comeback run when runner-up in a veterans' event at this course (20.2f) 4 weeks ago but this will require more to feature today.

Form: 11-1252

Undersupervision^p²⁴⁰

Age: 6| Weight: 11-8| J: Sam Twiston-Davies| T: N & W Twiston-Davies| OR: 136| BF| D

7/2

Built on previous promise in no uncertain terms when opening his account over fences in Grimthorpe Chase at Doncaster in March. Sent off favourite but failed to fire when pulled up over C&D back in April but he's well worth another chance to prove this revised mark is within reach.

Form: F3641P-

Spiritofthegames³⁴

Age: 10| Weight: 11-6| J: Harry Skelton| T: D Skelton| OR: 134

11/2

Regular in competitive handicaps and returned with solid runner-up effort at Fakenham in October. Not seen to best effect in a race which didn't favour waiting tactics at Aintree (21.1f, good to soft) last month but he's undeniably well handicapped.

Form: 9335-26

Switch Hitter²⁵²

Age: 7| Weight: 11-6| J: H Cobden| T: P F Nicholls| OR: 134

10/1

Always looked a chaser and improved on hurdles form when making a winning return/chase bow at Hereford last season. Unable to add to that tally since but finished runner-up on his last 2 starts and he could have a say in proceedings returning from 8 months off.

Form: 1F/1322-

Captain Cattistock^p,t⁴⁸

Age: 9| Weight: 11-4| J: Liam Harrison⁽³⁾| T: F O'Brien| OR: 132| CD

11/4

Landed big-field hunter for this yard in April 2021 and expertly placed to land a brace of handicaps earlier this year. Shaped encouragingly after 6 months off when third at this track (25f, good to soft) just under 7 weeks ago and that should have put his spot on for today.

Form: 25P11-3

Dominateur²⁶

Age: 9| Weight: 10-9| J: N de Boinville| T: B Pauling| OR: 123

11/1

Dual 3m chase winner at Chepstow in 2019 but took a long time to make his stable debut (bought from Oliver Sherwood for £30,000 early last year) and there was little to recommend in his comeback effort here (27.3f) last month. Percentage call is to look elsewhere.

Form: 730PP/7

Non-Runners

Nassalam²⁷

Weight: 12-0| Age: 5

T: G & J Moore J: J E Moore

Forecasts

Captain Cattistock (11/4), Undersupervision (7/2), Spiritofthegames (11/2), Commodore (11/2), Nassalam (7/1), Eva's Oskar (8/1), Switch Hitter (10/1), Dominateur (11/1), Broken Quest (16/1)

Venetia Williams had a Saturday to remember last week with 4 runners making a winning reappearance and COMMODORE can enhance that record further and take this contest for a second year in succession. He's unlikely to have it all his own way though, with Grimthorpe Chase winner Undersupervision fancied to give the selection most to think about on reappearance. Captain Cattistock and Eva's Oskar are another couple to consider in what promises to be a fascinating feature.