The 2024 Charlie Hall Chase: guide to possible runners and verdict

Age: 9. Official Rating: 166. Odds: 7-4. 

Scooped this prize in 2022 before landing the King George VI Chase, but he has been winless since then, albeit running some fine races in defeat, including when runner-up to Galopin Des Champs in the 2023 Gold Cup. His defeat at the hands of Gentlemansgame in this race last year was the first chapter of a disappointing campaign (he officially had 12lb in hand of that rival on ratings), but the upside is that he has no penalty to carry this time and the dry week forecast this week means he should get the good ground that serves him so well. For what it’s worth, three horses (Wayward Lad, Barton Bank and Ollie Magern) have regained their Charlie Hall crown since 1985. Plenty of the stable’s runners have shaped as if needing the run, but I’ll be surprised if he is undercooked. His fluent jumping always serves him well. 

Age: 10. Official Rating: 165. Odds: 8-1. 

This two-time Grade One winner is a smart front-runner when on song, but he’s always had the habit of making the odd bungle, as he did when unseating his rider on his return at Punchestown this month. The knock-on is that he’s a horse that generally needs a run or two to hit peak – he was very easy to back at Punchestown – and so this outing may well add an edge. The earliest he has ever won in a campaign has been November 30. And, rising 11, there must also be a chance his best days are behind him, for all he ran creditably at all the big Festival meetings in the spring. He’s also entered in the Grade One Ladbrokes Champion Chase on Saturday, a race he’s finished third in for the past two years. 

Age: 11. Official Rating: 153. Odds: 33-1. 

He hasn’t run over fences for the best part of two years and I’d imagine he is more likely to take up his engagement in the bet365 Hurdle, in which he was third last year. If he does line up here, then he would be seeking to become the oldest winner since Strath Royal took the spoils in 1998. He’s been a fabulous horse for connections but is going to be tricky to place this term. 

Age: 9. Official Rating: 139. Odds: 100-1. 

Reserves his best for Kempton but, even if this race were staged there, he would have a mountain to climb. Showed little spark on his return at Chepstow this month and stacks to find on these terms. 

Age: 9. Official Rating: 149. Odds: 16-1. 

Mouse Morris scooped this prize last year with Gentlemansgame and now attempts to repeat the trick with French Dynamite, who is in the same ownership. He’s been something of a “nearly horse” after finishing runner-up in the Paddy Power Gold Cup a couple of years ago, but finally got back to winning ways with a decisive success in a Grade Three contest over 2m 7f at Punchestown recently, looking well served by front-running tactics and stepping up in trip. He also impressed in the jumping department, with the RaceiQ data revealing he gained almost nine lengths in the air. However, his task was made easier by Conflated exiting at the first fence plus his nearest pursuers, Minella Indo and Hewick, were possibly at a fitness disadvantage and were conceding plenty of weight. Moreover, he’s got a 4lb penalty to shoulder for that success, so he will have to go to another level to follow up. 

Age: 8. Official Rating: 170. Odds: 9-2. 

He is apparently heading to Down Royal on Saturday, instead, for his defence of the Ladbrokes Champion Chase. 

Age: 7. Official Rating: 157. Odds: 7-4. 

Second-season chasers have won the past three editions of the Charlie Hall and two of them were below-par on their final outing of their novice campaigns. Perhaps that augurs well for Grey Dawning, a leading novice last season who was almost certainly past his best for the season when disappointing at the Grand National meeting in April (third in the Manifesto Chase). He had previously mastered old rival Ginny’s Destiny in what looks like being the last ever Turners Novice Chase, having bolted up over 3m at Warwick before that. The ratings suggest he’s up against it, especially with a 3lb penalty to shoulder, but he’s open to more improvement over staying trips and his wins-to-runs ratio says plenty about his willing attitude. 

Age: 10. Official Rating: 159. Odds: xxxx. 

He’s established as a summer performer, which is hardly surprising given his penchant for good ground or quicker. It looks like he’s going to get his favoured conditions but he looks like being extremely hard to place off his present rating, for all that he’s only 4lb higher than when landing the Summer Cup at Uttoxeter in June. His regular rider, conditional Joe Anderson, usually eases his burden by 3lb, but would not be able to claim here. 

Age: 9. Official Rating: 165. Odds: 7-1. 

Last season’s dramatic King George winner, when he beat Bravemansgame by a length and a half, looks like getting the good ground he is most effective on but a 6lb penalty for that success will clearly make life tougher for him. To my eye, he’s changed in the past year or so, losing some zip and looking more and more like a rugged stayer. Perhaps I got him wrong in the first place. He probably ran as well as he's ever done when a close third behind Fastorslow and Galopin Des Champs in the Punchestown Gold Cup in early May and then ran a cracker in France, too. He again looked an out-and-out galloper on his return at Punchestown when about seven lengths third to the racefit French Dynamite, who he was conceding 12lb. Hewick could well turn the tables on these revised terms, especially if he’s sharper, but I’m left wondering how many gears he has these days. 

Age: 6. Official Rating: 152. Odds: 8-1. 

We only saw him three times as a novice chaser last season, but the last two runs – at Cheltenham (fifth behind Grey Dawning) and Aintree (chased home Inothewayurthnkin) – were something of a bonus as he had been ruled out for the season after an impressive winning debut over fences at Warwick just about a year ago. He was entitled to need the Cheltenham run on various levels and that latter effort confirmed he’s a young stayer on the up, as he had hinted he would be when signing off the 2022/23 season with a game victory in the Martin Pipe and then third in the Sefton. He’s got a stack of untapped potential as a stayer, has no penalty, plus has won first time out in the past two seasons, including at this track on good going a couple of years ago (admittedly when rated just 121 over hurdles). So, there are plenty of positives. 

Age: 12. Official Rating: 156. Odds: 33-1. 

I’d imagine he’d make history should he take the spoils, given his latest success came in a veterans’ handicap chase. That success at Ascot showed he’s got plenty of spirit left in him, as did his subsequent near-miss at Aintree, while it’s worth recalling he was a close third to Bravemansgame in this race two years ago. However, his window has surely passed. 

Age: 8. Official Rating: 157. Odds: 12-1. 

It was all looking good for the bold-jumping front-runner when he won his first three races over fences, at Cheltenham no less, with the last of them being at the main expense of Gerri Colombe, with I Am Maximus back in fourth. Last season was something of a write-off, including when tried in headgear, and this one didn’t begin well – unseated about halfway in the Kerry National after being equipped with a tongue-tie – but on the plus side his trainer’s fortunes have improved for a switch of premises. He’s had four winners from 15 runners since August, as many as he’d had in the previous 13 months. The question is whether The Real Whacker has been similarly revived by a change of scenery. He’s young enough to bounce back, and has still had only 13 races. 

Age: 8. Official Rating: 156. Odds: 14-1. 

Like Dashel Drasher, he’s also in the in the bet365 Hurdle. He hasn’t run over the smaller obstacles since the spring of 2022, although his connections have been tempted to switch back on occasions because of jumping lapses. His victories over fences have come in either handicap or Listed contests, with is record in Graded company being 0/5. He can go well fresh, but his jumping cannot be trusted and, in any case, he’s got to find a chunk of improvement under his 4lb penalty. 

Bravemansgame  must have bright prospects of getting back his crown on these terms, for all that he was a little underwhelming last season. In his defence, the one time he got his favoured good ground, he beat all bar Hewick (now 6lb worse off) in the King George, and my gut feeling is that a hard race in the Betfair Chase a month before had taken an edge off him. He never really got his season back on track. Grey Dawning had Iroko well adrift at Cheltenham but you can certainly make a case for the latter turning the tables, or at least getting much closer, over this longer trip and on better terms. The Real Whacker and French Dynamite are the most interesting of those at double-figure prices. 

1 BRAVEMANSGAME. 2 IROKO. 3 GREY DAWNING