The King Of Ryhope

The King Of Ryhope only finished fourth of the four finishers in the Grade 2 Reynoldstown Chase at Ascot last Saturday, but he ran way better than his finishing position suggests. Last of the five runners early on, he travelled best of all along the inside around the home turn. Taken towards the outside by Harry Skelton on the run to the second last fence, he moved up menacingly on the near side between the final two fences, at which point he traded at 2.1 in-running, but he got the final fence all wrong. He got in tight and hit the top of it and lost momentum. He kept on up the run-in, but he couldn’t bridge the gap to the leaders in the end, finishing three lengths behind the winner Henry’s Friend, and beaten just a neck by Apple Away from third.

It was still a fine run by Dan Skelton’s horse. He is eight, he is old enough for a novice, but this was just his fourth run over fences, so he still has plenty of potential for progression. This was his first run over fences over three miles and, third behind Makin’yourmindup in the Grade 2 Prestige Novices’ Hurdle over three miles at Haydock around this time last year, there could be more to come from him now over this type of trip over fences. He will be interesting in novice chases now in the spring, and he would be interesting too off his handicap rating of 137 if connections choose to go down the handicap route.

Ascot, 17^th February 2024