Among young point-to-pointers and hunter chasers who raced in Britain last season there was no more intriguing age group than the six-year-olds.
The division had strength in depth and a wealth of exciting prospects who could make their presence felt in hunters’ chases in the coming season. Well-known commentator and race reader Martin Harris, who provides a rating for every horse that ran last season, had the difficult job of deciding which six-year-old deserved the highest mark, and despite some very good performances in hunters’ chases he gave the no.1 position to a horse who raced solely in point-to-points.
Ihandaya, a son of Great Pretender who has been awarded a rating of 131, joined Nickie Sheppard’s Herefordshire stable before the start of the season having won three point-to-points for Sam Loxton’s Dorset yard. Owner Clive Hitchings, who lives in the West Mercian area, wanted his horse trained nearer to his home, hence the move, although Somerset-based Natalie Parker retained the ride.
Pulled up at Chaddesley Corbett in early December, Ihandaya was then unbeaten in four races. At Didmarton he easily beat What A Glance, who a few months later scored at Cheltenham and then won the prestigious Pertemps Network Champion Hunters’ Chase at Stratford. A very easy win at Larkhill was followed by the demolition of smart Tigerbythetail in a match at Chaddesley Corbett before he returned to that course and ran out a comfortable winner from Macklin who was chasing a four-timer and had scored at Taunton earlier in the season.
Ihandaya is a most imposing chaser who looks the part and has produced performances to match while forming a solid bond with Parker, and the good news for fans of the sport is that he has returned to Sheppard’s yard in preparation for another campaign.
Sheppard, who has yet to saddle a runner in the Festival Hunters’ Chase, says: “That would be a dream. I loved him the moment he walked into the yard. He’s a big old-fashioned horse who is very laid back and oozes class. He does everything so easily, which means he is hard to get fit.
“He’s cantering away and we’ll see how things go, but we’ll need to get run into him before we think of Cheltenham.”
Second place in Harris’s ratings goes to the mare Regatta De Blanc (Shirocco), who is given a mark of 125, six points below Ihandaya. On those ratings she would have a fine chance of beating him with her 7lb sex allowance.
The mare Regatta De Blanc with trainer/rider Will Biddick and owner Rupert Swallow (Ce)
Trained and ridden by Will Biddick, Regatta De Blanc is unbeaten in four point-to-points and last season she also won hunters’ chases at Taunton and Cheltenham. She has since joined Paul Nicholls and will race on for Rupert Swallow’s Pendil Partnership.
Triple hunters’ chase winner Iskandar Pecos, who is owned and trained in Cheshire by Hannah Roach, has been placed third on the list with a rating of 121. A son of Jeu St Eloi, Iskandar Pecos scored at Leicester, Ludlow and in the intermediate hunters’ chase at Cheltenham and he went very close in Haydock’s Walrus Hunter’ Chase. At Stratford the ground was quicker than ideal and could never get in a blow against Forest Chimes in the pointtopoint.co.uk Champion Novices’ Hunters’ Chase.
Iskandar Pecos (Huw Edwards) on his way to winning the intermediate hunters' chase at Cheltenham (Ce)
The leading seven-year-old also had the honour of being the leading horse. Its On The Line, trained in Ireland by Emmet Mullins, was second to Sine Nomine at Cheltenham and then won Aintree’s Foxhunters’ Chase. He was given a rating of 137, well clear of second-placed Viroflay (125) whose season got off to a fine start with a pair of comfortable wins at Larkhill. An injury to trainer/rider Olive Nicholls disrupted Viroflay’s campaign and he ran just once more when second in the Coronation Cup under Charlie Sprake, yet beaten just two lengths by dead-heaters Regatta De Blanc and the season’s leading horse Grace A Vous Enki, who is also in Sheppard’s yard.
Viroflay (Olive Nicholls) who was beaten by two very good horses in the Coronation Cup (Ce)
Fairly Famous, who put his season back on the front foot when winning at Cheltenham’s evening meeting under trainer/rider Gina Andrews, is rated third on the list of seven-year-olds with a mark of 123. After the Cheltenham race he finished third in the Pertemps Network Champion Hunters’ Chase at Stratford, finishing nearly five lengths behind winner What A Glance.
Martin Harris's ratings will be published next month in the Point-to-Point & Hunter Chase Yearbook 2023/24 which will be on sale via this website.