Winner of Aintree’s Randox Foxhunters’ Chase, Famous Clermont is the top-rated hunter chaser/point-to-pointer from the 2022/23 season.
That is the opinion of Martin Harris, whose ratings appear on the national website and are widely regarded as the definitive assessment of horses who ran during the season. His full list will appear in the next edition of The Yearbook to be published in hardback before the new season opens on November 5.
Harris has awarded the Chris Barber-trained Famous Clermont (pictured above with a jubilant Will Biddick: photo Debbie Burt) a rating of 146, seven points clear of last season’s top horse, the Willie Mullins-trained Billaway, and Secret Investor from Paul Nicholls’ stable. That pair are bracketed on 139, Billaway having been dropped from last season’s high of 143. On 137 appears the name of the Bradley Gibbs-trained Premier Magic alongside the David Christie-trained pair of Vaucelet and Winged Leader.
With the exception of Winged Leader all the aforementioned horses lined up in the St James’s Place Festival Hunters’ Chase at Cheltenham. Premier Magic was a game and worthy winner, while Famous Clermont failed to stay but finished sixth, one place ahead of Vaucelet. Secret Investor and the previous year’s winner Billaway fell.
Premier Magic later won the Ineos Grenadier final at Cheltenham, Famous Clermont, who had already won Haydock’s Walrus Hunters’ Chase, scored at Aintree, while Vaucelet finished second in Punchestown’s Champion Hunters’ Chase, second again to Billaway at Downpatrick and then chased home Secret Investor in Stratford’s Pertemps Network Champion Hunters’ Chase.
Trainer/rider Bradley Gibbs with Premier Magic and his team after the Ineos Grenadier final at Cheltenham (Ce)
Of his decision to award eight-year-old Famous Clermont the clear top spot, Harris said: “Famous Clermont’s form over his preferred distance of a bare three miles or sub-three miles was that much better than everybody else. Premier Magic was the best horse over three and a quarter miles, but it fell short of Famous Clermont’s best.
“Premier Magic wears his heart on his sleeve, but he never wins flashily – I’m not suggesting Famous Clermont will beat him over three and a quarter miles at Cheltenham, but it would be another matter over three miles on a flat track. It doesn’t often happen that a horse who fails to win the Cheltenham race becomes the top-rated horse, but Famous Clermont could be even better than we’ve assessed him.
“Secret Investor remains a class horse. He won four hunter chases and beat a good yardstick in Vaucelet at Stratford. He is holding his form well. I have dropped Billaway a few points, but who knows, he might have won at Cheltenham but for falling.”
Point-to-Point & Hunter Chase Yearbook is an annual publication which has come in many guises since it was first produced by Geoffrey Sale in 1960. The latest is priced at £30 plus £3.80 p&p and includes full results from last season, profiles of every horse who ran, plus a compilation of Nick Wilson’s On The Clock, a time-based analysis of races.
