Ross Millar: weekend reflections and three tips for Monday

Amidst a quiet weekend of racing there were some points of interest. I’ve regularly mentioned this season the impressive accuracy of Dan Skelton and his team at picking up decent prizes  with well-considered and well executed race planning.

An across the card double at Bangor and Kelso, courtesy of Joyeux Machin and Diamond Dealer, saw him break the £4-million barrier in prize money this season.

It’s the first time this has been achieved by a National Hunt trainer and surely even the most ardent fan of Willie Mullins, would concede that the gap between the pair in insurmountable and that Skelton will deservedly claim a first trainers’ title.

At Newbury it was two daughters of high-class sire Nathaniel who caught the eye.

The Alan King-trained Charisma Cat relished the step up in trip in the Grade Two Mares’ Novice Handicap Hurdle. She got to the front travelling strongly approaching the third last and while lacking co-ordination at the second last she found plenty for pressure to win a shade snugly.

Her jumping does need to improve but she’s got a tremendous attitude and is a mare worth following. 

In the next race, the Goffs Hundred Grand Bumper, debutant Lady Hope also showed a similarly likeable attitude; switching wide down the middle of the track under jockey Jonathan Burke to sweep to the front in the closing stages having initially looked green when coming under pressure. 

A granddaughter of the small but tenacious Lady Rebecca, she’s a lovely prospect for hurdles next season for trainer Hughie Morrison. 

On Monday the Racing TV cameras are at Kempton and Wincanton. I have three selections. 

A three-time winner on the Flat, this son of Nathaniel remains a maiden over hurdles. 

He returned from a 137-day absence at Plumpton two weeks ago, having had wind surgery during that period, and weakened late on after racing keenly, though not as dramatically as he has done on other occasions. 

That return run may well have brought his fitness forward and a second run after wind surgery is often when the benefit can be found. This flat track will also suit well. His hurdle mark of 93 compares favourably to that of his 65 on the Flat and he is well capable of landing a race of this nature. 

Now a veteran, he hasn’t been seen on a racecourse since November 2024 and it’s fair to say in the 12 months preceding that his form had looked regressive, although he was racing from a career-high mark having been hiked up 18lb in the handicap for two wins and two runner-up efforts in a productive 2023. 

Of course, it could be that he’s not the horse he once was, but the handicapper has given him some respite - dropping him 8lb down to a lenient looking mark of 118, with Toby McCain Mitchell taking off another 5lb. 

He’s got good course form on the sound surface he will encounter here and he’s worth chancing. 

Anthony Honeyball’s gelding started his season in the best possible way when making all the running to win the Badger Beers Chase at Wincanton in emphatic style. 

I felt he stole that race off the front thanks to an enterprising ride from Rex Dingle and that the subsequent 8lb rise in the handicap was going to see him struggle. 

Two fourth place finishes since may suggest that’s the case but I might well have been wrong. At Sandown, on his penultimate start, he didn’t jump with his usual fluency and likely wasn’t fully in love with the track while last time out, over this course and distance, he ran with great credit only to be overhauled late on in a race far deeper than this.