NAP of the Day: Chantry House can roll back the years at Newbury

There is a feast of action on Friday with top-class racing in Britain from Newbury, which is supported by quality cards at Doncaster and Musselburgh. There are also two meetings from Ireland, with one taking place over jumps at Thurles and one an all-weather meeting from Dundalk.

The feature at the Newbury is the Long Distance Hurdle (15:05), but that has attracted only four runners and doesn’t make much appeal from a punting perspective. The better betting race comes in the finale, a 3m handicap hurdle (15:40).

There have been 11 declared for this competitive contest and it’s a wide-open affair, so there should be some value on offer among horses at bigger prices.

Our Friday NAP comes in that race at Newbury, where it appears to be worth keeping faith with a former top-class chaser who has dropped in the weights and might hold a class edge.

15:40 Newbury Odds

Turn the clock back three years and Chantry House had won two Grade 1s at the end of the previous season and went into the King George at Kempton as a red-hot favourite. However, it went wrong that day when he finished pulled up and he has been hit and miss since.

Nevertheless, Chantry House was still good enough to win the Cotswold Chase at Cheltenham in 2022 and he showed that he still retains plenty of ability, after a period of inactivity, when putting together several good runs in defeat when returning to hurdling last season.

The Nicky Henderson-trained 10-year-old was third in a handicap hurdle at Cheltenham’s November meeting last year off a mark of 147 and he finished fourth off 145 in another strong contest at Huntingdon in January. He is racing from a mark of just 139 in a weaker race here.

He should also find this a lot easier than when competing in hot company at last season’s spring festivals. He wasn’t disgraced on any of those occasions, though, taking midfield in the Pertemps Final at Cheltenham and in a Premier Handicap at Aintree’s Grand National fixture.

However, the run that proves he is capable of winning this came at the Punchestown Festival in May, when he finished fifth of 25 in a Listed handicap hurdle behind the classy Maxxum.

Chantry House was beaten only seven and three-quarter lengths by the winner that day.

This will be the first time that he has been able to run off a mark in the 130s in a handicap in Britain and he has been found a nice little 0-140 handicap, in which he gets in at the top of the weights. He, therefore, has a chance against a lower-class of rival than he often faces.

The clincher is his record fresh, because he has six wins from eight starts, either on his seasonal reappearance or after breaks of at least 50 days, so that suggests this might be the time to catch Chantry House as he returns from an absence of 211 days on his season's bow.

This is an Extra Place Race, with Betfred offering 4 places instead of 3 at 1/5 the odds for all each-way bets

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