BetMGM Clarence House Chase |
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| Grade 1, Ascot £175,000 guaranteed, 5yo plus, 2m 62y, Class 1 |
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Thistle Ask’s rapid ascent continued apace at Kempton, where a commanding success in the Ladbrokes Desert Orchid Handicap Chase earned him a shot at much loftier company here. Already an enterprising front-runner when making all in the Haldon Gold Cup at Exeter, the pattern was much the same here.
THISTLE ASK continues his rapid progression since joining @DSkeltonRacing with a dominant performance in the Desert Orchid Handicap Chase at @kemptonparkrace under @harryskelton89 👏pic.twitter.com/yLLRXDQp9h
— Sporting Life Racing (@SportingLife) December 27, 2025
Harry Skelton was positive from the outset on the 15-8 favourite and, once in his rhythm, Thistle Ask steadily turned the screw, stretching clear for a comfortable 10-length victory. It marked a fifth consecutive win for the flourishing eight-year-old, and a fourth since joining Dan Skelton, whose excitement is matched only by his curiosity as to where the ceiling might lie.
“It’s remarkable and I just don’t know where the improvement is coming from really,” said Skelton.
“He’s just loving life and seems to be getting better. Obviously today was all the things he loves, good ground, right-handed – there were a lot of ticks in his boxes, but it still takes a fine performance to defy a mark that is 31lb higher than he started the season with.
“You just have to say well done to the horse and he’ll go to the Clarence House now and we’ll get a good idea of where he stands in the division.”
A bold, attacking display around Ascot could quickly answer that question, though stepping from handicaps into a red-hot Grade One is the sternest examination yet of his meteoric rise.
Adding further intrigue is the return of Gidleigh Park, who will head straight to Ascot after connections elected to bypass the Coral Silviniaco Conti Chase at Kempton. A Grade Two winner over hurdles and fences, Harry Fry’s stable star finished second to Jango Baie on his seasonal debut in the 1965 Chase at Ascot over two miles and five furlongs in November.
Fry is convinced that outing came over the wrong trip and is keen to sharpen his charge up for Ascot’s Grade One feature.
“We’re very much all systems go for the Clarence House, all being well,” he said.
“We looked at the ground at Kempton over Christmas and we haven’t had any rain since then. There has been some frost and the weather looks like changing at the end of the week, but we just felt we’d wait and take him back to Ascot.
“If I’d run him in the right race in the first place in November, in the Hurst Park, I have no doubt he’d have won that well, over the course and distance of the Clarence House. If he had won that we wouldn’t be having any second thoughts about running in the Clarence House or not.
“Obviously it’s going to be a step up against proper Grade One horses, but I think he deserves to take his chance.”
BetMGM Clarence House Chase
£175,000 guaranteed, 5yo plus, 2m 62y, Class 1
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