Shishkin spearheads super six in Ascot Chase test

PA Sport Reporters
February 16, 2023 11:19 am

Fakir D’oudairies and Pic D’Orhy also star in Grade One.

Shishkin will face five rivals as he steps up in trip for Saturday’s Betfair Ascot Chase.

Nicky Henderson’s nine-year-old was unbeaten in his first seven starts over fences, winning up to two and a quarter miles, but he was pulled up in the Queen Mother Champion Chase at last year’s Cheltenham Festival and trailed home a distant third behind Edwardstone on his Tingle Creek return in December.

That performance has prompted Henderson to move up to two miles and five furlongs this weekend, with Shishkin a three-mile point to point winner in his younger days.

Fakir D'oudairies won the race last year — Fakir D’oudairies won the race last year (Tim Goode/PA)

Shishkin faces a stern test on his first start since undergoing wind surgery, with last year’s winner Fakir D’oudairies defending his title for Joseph O’Brien after returning to winning form in a Thurles Grade Two last time out.

Champion trainer Paul Nicholls fields Pic D’Orhy, who has won each of his three starts this term, including Grade Twos at Huntingdon and Kempton.

Nicholls said of the gelding: “The big difference with him is he’s a big horse and he’s just matured at last. He’s twice the horse he was last season as a model, he’s well and strong and he keeps improving.

“He wasn’t really jumping that well, the first season he had a couple of falls so he was a novice for a second season.

“Last year at Newbury in the Ladbrokes meeting, he was going to absolutely bolt in in the Grade Two novice chase and he took a fairly heavy fall at the first in the straight.

Pic D'Orhy at Ascot last season — Pic D’Orhy at Ascot last season (Steven Paston/PA)

“I think that shook him a bit and woke him up, he’s been very careful and good after that.

“This season his jumping has been fantastic, he’s a Betfair Hurdle winner so he’s always had plenty of ability.

“He’s a little bit like Bravemansgame, massive horses that just take all this time to reach full maturity. He’s probably the finished article now and hopefully he can keep improving.”

First Flow, winner of the race in 2021, represents Kim Bailey with Aye Right for Harriet Graham and Gary Rutherford, plus Alex Hales’ Millers Bank completing the line-up.

Donald McCain’s Minella Drama was the only horse not declared.