Ahoy Senor team keen on Cotswold Chase run

Last year’s top novice is on something of a retrieval mission.

Ahoy Senor has been given the chance to get some more Cheltenham experience as one of 11 entries for the Paddy Power Cotswold Chase at Prestbury Park on Saturday.

Lucinda Russell’s stable star was second in his sole appearance at the track when chasing home L’Homme Presse at last year’s Festival but went on to reverse that form when scooping Grade One honours at Aintree the following month.

He was last seen fading into fifth in the King George at Kempton on Boxing Day and although the eight-year-old is joined on the list of possibles by stablemate Corach Rambler, the Kinross-based handler has reported Ahoy Senor will be her main dart at the Grade Two contest – with the Gold Cup in March still the dream.

“Ahoy Senor is in great form,” said Russell. “This is the first choice for him with second choice being the Denman Chase at Newbury. If the ground was very soft or testing we would probably wait for Newbury.

“I was really pleased with his run at Kempton and he seems to be growing up – I was very happy with him.

“We’ve been held up – the snow and ice has been quite horrible for us. So last week they had a bit of a quiet week, however we will get quite a bit of work into him this week and see how he gets on.”

She went on: “I will speak to the owners and see what they are thinking, but I think they would like to give him a bit more experience around Cheltenham which I think is a fair statement.

“The Gold Cup is still the dream and I’m really looking forward to seeing him run again. I think he’s on the up again now and we’ve always thought he was a really good horse.”

Gold Cup second favourite and Grand National hero Noble Yeats could line-up for Emmet Mullins, while Protektorat is the shortest priced British-trained candidate for the blue ribband and this has always been the plan for Dan Skelton’s Betfair Chase winner.

Harry Skelton celebrates winning the Betfair Chase with Protektorat at Haydock
Harry Skelton celebrates winning the Betfair Chase with Protektorat at Haydock (Nigel French/PA)

Nicky Henderson has won this twice in the last three years and could rely on Dusart – although the eight-year-old also has the option of Doncaster’s Sky Bet Chase, while Frodon won this contest in 2019 and could line-up having missed out on an intended target at Taunton.

Cape Gentleman is an interesting raider from Ireland while Cool Cody (Evan Williams), Sounds Russian (Ruth Jefferson), Sam Brown (Anthony Honeyball) and Happygolucky (Kim Bailey) complete the list of entries.

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