Waiting Patiently to Land Back to Back Ascot Chase Wins

The Ruth Jefferson trained Waiting Patiently heads down to Ascot on Saturday afternoon, looking to win back to back Ascot Chase’s, and he looks to have a great chance of doing so. We have only seen this horse once so far this season, when he was unluckily brought down in the King George at Kempton on Boxing Day, and he steps back a little in trip from that race for this one.

He was a hugely impressive winner of the race last season, and it was that win that made many of us think that this horse was capable of landing a big race. It also played a big part in why he was sent off as short as 4/1 for the King George, despite going up against the best field he has faced so far, and on his first run of the season. There are many people out there who think this horse has the ability to go all the way to the top, and I am one of them.

He is clearly a horse that takes a lot of getting fit, and one that doesn’t take too much racing and because of that, there has to be a doubt about whether he will make it back in time for the Cheltenham Festival. The plan this season was to find out whether he would stay the Gold Cup distance by running in the King George, but the yard found nothing out from that run, which disappointed them. After that they named the Ryanair Chase as his number one target in the spring, which is over two and a half miles, a similar distance to the race on Saturday. We know he stays that strongly, and let’s hope he makes it there after running just a month before.

In opposition on Saturday we have two Paul Nicholls trained runners as the second and third favourites in Cyrname and Politologue, both would have chances on their very best form, especially Politologue who looks as though he could be running over his best trip here. Elsewhere, Colin Tizzard runs Fox Norton as a prep run for his tilt at the Ryanair after finishing a distant second behind Altior over two miles last time out. I’d expect him to come on from that, and he is an interesting runner with the Ryanair in mind in a month’s time.

The field is rounded off by Charbel and Aso, both of whom shouldn’t be discounted from the race, but they would have to show better than we have seen from them so far to trouble the top few here.

While this is a good race, Waiting Patiently stands out as being a top contender not only for this, but also for the Ryanair. He is a difficult horse to get right, but the yard have had plenty of time with him in the build up to this one, and I expect him to be spot on here, which for me means he will take the world of beating.