A race to grace any big Saturday card based on the five-day declarations and there’s a good chance that Waiting Patiently will be there to defend his crown.

Ruth Jefferson’s gelding really came of age when he claimed this prize twelve months ago and in the process, he clocked the sort of time that suggested he’s one of the best around over this intermediate trip. Sadly, he’s only been seen out once since and that resulted in an early exit in the King George at Kempton over the Christmas period, so from a betting point of view, he can’t be considered a confident choice at the current prices with his fitness levels an unknown.

One that we do know is fit and bouncing is CYRNAME (best price 4-1) and Paul Nicholls’ star chaser rates the percentage call looking at the ante-post quotes. The son of Nickname enjoyed an impressive start to his life over fences and even though he narrowly failed in his bid to land a Grade 1 at Sandown in February, compensation awaited in the form of the Grade 2 Pendil Novices’ Chase at Kempton three weeks later. In need of the run at Carlisle after a 206-day layoff for his first start of this campaign, the seven-year-old was a bit disappointing when well-backed to land a valuable handicap over today’s course next time, but as the race didn’t go according to plan right from the start, it was probably wise to draw a veil over that performance. Returning to the Berkshire venue for his most recent outing, he bounced back to his very best form by making all the running to land a competitive handicap with plenty to spare and such was the magnitude of that display, the assessor saw fit to raise him to a career high of 165. Looking at Saturday’s line-up and it seems almost certain that he’ll be able to obtain an early uncontested lead which he desires and, as the bold-jumping gelding is at his deadliest when making the running, racing right-handed over this sort of trip, it makes perfect sense to get him on side at his current 4-1 quotes with a view to trading him back at a much shorter price in running.

Of the rest, both Politilogue and Top Notch are regulars in these sort of events and as their best form is also going right-handed, they each deserve a huge amount of respect. The former, in particular has only lost once going clockwise, and as that defeat came over a trip that was just a shade beyond his best in the King George last time out, he can be readily forgiven. 2-2 at Ascot, the eight-year-old grey gives his Ditcheat handler a very strong hand in this valuable prize.

Cyrname - 1pt @ 4/1