Denman Chase

A nice little Gold Cup trial in store at the Berkshire track on Saturday and the odds are interesting:

Al Ferof 6/4
Harry Topper 6/1
Katenko 6/1
Trio D'Alene 6/1
Menorah 10/1
 12s Bar

Al Ferof should win this but his trainer has indicated that he doesn't want to run him on deep ground a month before the Festival. So with that in mind I think it's worth getting involved early for a bit of potential value.

I'm a sucker for a less than straight forward Hobbs chaser (is there any other kind) and Menorah stands out like a sore thumb at 10/1. Simply put he is a better horse than than all of these bar the favourite and if Al Ferof does miss this engagement he will be a lot shorter on Saturday. But even with that horse's presence I'd expect him to place. Menorah has just the one run to his name this season when he was pulled up in the King George but that was a very tough assignment first time out and may even have come as an afterthought when Captain Chris was withdrawn a week before the race. His form last year, in particular on flat tracks, was good in the main and he has won on heavy going as well. I was at Aintree when he was runner up to First Lieutenant in a Grade 1 in April and I would suggest that that was his best ever effort over fences. He actually ran in this race last year when he was a distant third to Silviniaco Conti. His jumping was iffy at times but he plugged on gamely all the way to the line and I'm hoping his relative freshness compared to last season (he'd had a hardish race on heavy ground six weeks before Newbury) will see some sort of improvement in his leaping.

Denman Chase:
Menorah £15ew @ 10/1