Randox Topham Chase |
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| Grade 3 Handicap, Aintree 16:05 £150,000 guaranteed, 5yo plus, 2m 5f 19y, Class 1  |
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Success at the Cheltenham Festival tends to open as many doors as it closes, and for Madara the immediate future appears to lead towards Aintree, where the lure of the Grand National fences — in their modern, more forgiving guise — still carries a certain resonance. The Topham, run over a single circuit of those famous spruce obstacles, has emerged as the likeliest next port of call.
A win at the Festival for the Skeltons! 🤩
— ITV Racing (@itvracing) March 10, 2026
Madara sees them off in the Sun Racing Plate Handicap Chase 🏆#ITVRacing | @DSkeltonRacing | @harryskelton89 pic.twitter.com/5kFF6BTicX
Madara’s victory in the Plate at Prestbury Park had the look of a well-executed plan brought to fruition, the kind that rarely escapes the handicapper’s notice. A rise of 10lb duly followed his seven-and-a-half-length success, prompting some consideration from trainer Dan Skelton as to whether deeper waters might now be worth testing before the curtain falls on the season.
For the moment, however, discretion appears to have won out. Remaining within handicap company offers a more measured route, and the timing adds a neat narrative: 24 hours before Panic Attack, owned by Bryan Drew, lines up in the Randox Grand National itself, Madara could provide a rehearsal of sorts over the same unique fences.
Drew set out the thinking with characteristic candour: “It’s very difficult because the two races that are left for him are the Melling Chase, which is probably going to be too hot and Dan is saying L’Eau Du Sud is going to run in it, and the Oaksey Chase at Sandown on the final day of the season.
“The Melling is normally won by a horse in the 160s which is probably a bit hot for him at this stage, so we’ve entered him in the Topham and that would be the plan at the moment.
“The fences aren’t as penal as they used to be and I think he would have no problem popping round there.
“He’s gone up 10lb for his Cheltenham win and there’s a lot of horses in the race who he beat at Cheltenham that are going to be better off this time, but I think he’ll give a good account of himself.
“He was a graded horse in a handicap at Cheltenham and there might be still a little wriggle room in his mark, but it will be a hot race as it always is the Topham.
“We’ll see where he is then, see if he’s found his level and then we can plan ahead for next season.”
It is, in essence, the familiar balancing act: ambition tempered by pragmatism. The Melling Chase and the Oaksey remain on the table in theory, but both demand a level of proven class that connections suspect may just stretch him for now. The Topham, by contrast, offers opportunity without quite the same degree of exposure — though, as ever at Aintree, nothing comes easily.
There is a familiar feel about the way Dan Skelton has manoeuvred Boombawn into this year’s Topham Chase, the sort of quiet, calculated preparation that has so often preceded a well-executed handicap strike from the Alcester yard.
A win at the Festival for the Skeltons! 🤩
— ITV Racing (@itvracing) March 10, 2026
Madara sees them off in the Sun Racing Plate Handicap Chase 🏆#ITVRacing | @DSkeltonRacing | @harryskelton89 pic.twitter.com/5kFF6BTicX
On the face of it, his recent run at Cheltenham offered little encouragement, but context is everything. Positioned behind stablemate and first string Madara, Boombawn was never asked a serious question, his race effectively over before it had begun. The handicapper has taken the bait, easing him to a mark of 146, and that could prove a very workable perch for a horse of his underlying ability.
This is not a speculative leap of faith. Boombawn has already shown he can handle the unique demands of Aintree, producing a highly creditable effort in last season’s Grade 1 Manifesto Novices’ Chase. That experience over the track, and crucially over these fences, is often worth its weight in gold when it comes to the Topham, a race that places as much emphasis on rhythm and accuracy as it does on raw talent.
There is also the small matter of timing. Skelton has long been adept at peaking his horses for the spring festivals, and Boombawn’s profile suggests a horse being brought to the boil at precisely the right moment. His form tends to sharpen as the ground dries out, and conditions at Aintree are likely to play to that strength.
In a race where fine margins and meticulous planning often separate success from failure, Boombawn shapes as one who may have been hiding in plain sight — his mark trimmed, his confidence preserved, and his target firmly in view.
Tom George is, by his own admission, dealing in hope as much as expectation as Il Est Francais prepares to reappear in the latest roll of the dice for a horse whose raw ability has, of late, been overshadowed by fragility.
There was a time when this eight-year-old looked a force of nature, a ten-time winner with the cruising speed and bold jumping to mark him out as something above the ordinary. But since arriving in George’s Gloucestershire yard from Noel George and Amanda Zetterholm, the narrative has shifted rather sharply.
Two runs, two disappointments. At Ascot in the 1965 Chase he travelled with promise before stopping alarmingly quickly, pulled up in a manner that raised more questions than answers. Kempton on Boxing Day offered little in the way of redemption; the King George followed a similar script, the engine again failing when it mattered.
We have not seen him since, and in the intervening period connections have reached for a familiar remedy — a wind operation — coupled with time away from the track in the hope that both body and confidence might be restored.
George said: “He’s had a wind operation since the King George. He’s had a day out at Didmarton point to point, had a school around there. He’s in good form and we’re really happy with him. He’s in good shape and we’ll just have to wait and see if the wind operation makes any difference to him or not.
“It’s not a problem (dropping in trip), he’s got plenty of pace, that’s not an issue. He’s just got to start seeing his races out. That’s the problem.
“We’ve always thought he’s had a preference for going right-handed, but at the end of the day he has run well left-handed and I don’t think that is the issue at the moment. The issue is we’ve just got to get him to see his races out and let’s hope the wind operation is a help.
“We’re just taking it day by day. Until we see him showing some of his old form again, there’s no point making any more plans. We’re just taking it one step at a time.”
Harry Derham’s enigmatic eight-year-old Teddy Blue made a welcome return to the winner’s enclosure in a competitive heat at Kempton, coming from the rear with a late surge to score by a neck under Paul O’Brien.
Handed a 3lb rise for that win, O’Brien can now look forward to partnering Teddy Blue over Aintree’s famous spruce in a race Derham hopes could perk his charge’s interests.
Derham said: “He’s going to go for the Topham if he can get in and we’re planning for Aintree.
“It was kind of hilarious at Kempton the other day, one minute he was going, then he wasn’t, then he was, but he’s a talented horse and hopefully he can keep progressing, but you’ll never quite know with him.
“There’s no point me pretending how it will go in the Topham as no one has any clue, it could well, it could go badly, but it’s worth a go I think.”
Randox Health Topham Chase (Grade 3 Handicap)
£150,000 guaranteed, 5yo plus, 2m 5f 19y, Class 1
59 entries
Going:
