Our racing expert takes a look ahead to the RSA Chase in March.
RSA Chase 2019
The best two staying novice hurdlers from last season, Santini and BLACK OP (best price 16-1) quite rightly find themselves to the fore in the ante-post markets to see who will end up top of the tree over fences in this division and even though the former got the better of a titanic dual when they last met, it’s the latter that makes the most appeal of the pair at the prices at this stage.
The race in question when they locked horns was the Ballymore Classic Novices’ Hurdle at Cheltenham’s trial meeting last January and for the majority of the strongly-run affair, Tom George’s gelding seemed to be holding all the aces. However, a bad mistake at the last gave his old rival just a sniff of chance and it was an invitation that the scopey son of Milan grasped with both hands, as he stayed on the stronger of the two up the hill. With only half-a-length separating the pair after 2m 4f and 29 lengths back to the third, the form looked solid, and so it proved as the both went on to run blinders at the Festival itself. Santini went on to finish a creditable third in the Albert Bartlett over three miles while Black Op was the only horse to offer any sort résistance to the mighty Samcro in the Ballymore Novices’ over half a mile shorter.
On to Aintree and they each rounded off the season in the best possible fashion with Santini winning the Grade 1 Sefton Novices’ Hurdle while Black Op overcame adversity to capture a well-deserved success in the Grade 1 Mersey Novices Hurdle a day later. Looking at their respective performances on the clock, Black Op was much the quicker on the overall times and on the final circuit splits – 2.24.1 to Santini’s 2.28.1 - so with that in mind, it’s fairly safe to draw to the conclusion that Black Op probably has more basic speed than Nicky Henderson’s inmate (that also seemed the case at Cheltenham).
Heading into this campaign, both sets of connections will have their own ideas about the best route towards Cheltenham, but you’d imagine at some stage that both will be asked to pop over the famous fences at Prestbury Park so they can get their eye in before March. Either way, given that was hardly anything between the pair over hurdles and they both have the potential of more improvement to come over fences (both won their only point-to-point starts), it seems crazy that bookmakers make the son of Sandmason ten points bigger in the betting. Set to run at Exeter over 2m 4f on his chasing debut, providing the seven-year-old comes out of that assignment with flying colours, then hopefully it will be onwards and upwards for the rest of the season. A game and likeable type with a touch of class to boot, it will be disappointing if he doesn’t make the grade as he has all the hallmarks of a future champion. Indeed, long term, both of these two have the makings of proper Gold Cup horse and it will be fun to watch how their respective careers develop.
