Six rivals for Monet as he bids to get season back on track
Nicky Richards’ charge was a hugely disappointing sixth in the King George VI Chase on his last outing after opening his campaign with a convincing win at Carlisle.
The nine-year-old holds a number of entries at the Cheltenham Festival — including the totesport Gold Cup and Seasons Holidays Queen Mother Champion Chase — and connections are keen to see how he fares before committing to a target.
Irish raiders Fota Island and Central House make the trip to Berkshire — despite holding alternative engagements in the Red Mills Chase at Gowran on the same day.
The former, trained by Mouse Morris, finished second in last year’s Queen Mother Champion Chase but has failed to sparkle in two starts this term.
Dessie Hughes’ Central House has also yet to win this season and finished well in arrears of Cheltenham contender Nickname on his last three starts.
The Paul Nicholls-trained pair of Cerium and Thisthatandtother take their chances — with the duo having run ninth and fifth respectively at Cheltenham last time.
Vodka Bleu represents David Pipe’s yard, while the Noel Chance-trained River City completes the line-up.
Monet’s Garden is the clear 5-4 favourite with totesport for the two-mile-three-furlong contest. Thisthatandtother is next best at 4-1.
Spokesman Paul Petrie said: “Monet’s Garden really disappointed in the King George, but if he runs to his capabilities then he should end up winning on Saturday.
“His connections will definitely be looking for a big performance so that they can make a decision on what the horse’s Cheltenham ambitions might be.”
Commercial First Ascot Chase, totesport bet: 5-4 Monet’s Garden, 4-1 Thisthatandtother, 13-2 Central House, Cerium, Fota Island, 20-1 River City, Vodka Bleu.
Today's meeting at Sandown goes ahead after the track passed an inspection yesterday afternoon.
Heavy rain earlier in the week had caused some concern, but clerk of the course Andrew Cooper reports conditions to have improved significantly.
He said: “We have passed the inspection so we go ahead tomorrow with no further inspections planned unless the weather does something unexpected.
“We are forecast to be dry overnight and if that's the case, there should be no problems.
“There were only parts of the track that needed to improve and they have settled down over the last 24 hours, so we are satisfied.”
The official going on the hurdles course is heavy, good to soft in the back straight, while the chase course is soft, heavy in places.
