Ante-post 
/ Harry Bowles / 17 February 2011 / Leave a Comment 
Riverside Theatre is fancied to prove too strong for Pride of Dulcote
Pride of Dulcote plainly remains with plenty of potential, but this will clearly demand more and, as more of a staying type, the drop back in trip is most unlikely to come as naturally to him as it will Riverside Theatre.
The National Hunt season has had more than a stop-start feel to it thus far, with all the abandonments of December rolling into January and then the unfortunate events at Newbury last weekend. Here's hoping that the rearranged meeting at the Berkshire track on Friday and Ascot's big card on Saturday signal the return of the show to the road.
The headline race is the twenty-one furlong Grade 1 Ascot Chase and the bulk of attention will be centred on Riverside Theatre and Pride of Dulcote representing the powerhouse stables of Nicky Henderson and Paul Nicholls respectively. Riverside Theatre has progressed plenty from his novice campaign in two starts at Kempton this season, winning a minor event in November before a fine second to stablemate Long Run in the rearranged King George last month. That looks the most convincing piece of recent form brought to the table here and he must have strong claims of gaining a first Grade 1 success with the shorter trip certainly no inconvenience.
Pride of Dulcote was a smart hurdler who suffered a splint problem after making a winning chasing debut in early-2009/10, but he came back to make it two from two over fences with a narrow defeat of Punchestowns at Newbury over Christmas. He plainly remains with plenty of potential, but this will clearly demand more and, as more of a staying type, the drop back in trip is most unlikely to come as naturally to him as it will Riverside Theatre.
After a brace of wins in the Peterborough Chase at Newbury and a Grade 3 at Cheltenham, Tartak has to come into the reckoning somewhere along the line, even if it's just for place purposes. He's responded well to the fitting of a tongue strap in getting back to winning ways and these are his conditions. Worthy of respect on that basis, though the suspicion is that he'll always prove vulnerable at the highest level.
Big Fella Thanks was a smart chaser for Paul Nicholls who was fourth in last season's Grand National (stamina seemingly just stretched) and will surely have that race as his target once again. Returned with good second in minor event at Carlisle before falling at the third in Hennessy. This race is sure to be used as a stepping stone to Aintree, so it remains to be seen if he's cherry ripe for the day.
With only Tataniano to look up to amongst last season's crop of novices, French Opera might be considered a leading player. There's just a suspicion that a tough campaign has left a mark of some kind after an uncharacteristically tame reappearance effort at Sandown last month. Clearly he can't be written off wholesale just yet, but it's certainly fair to say the yard appears to hold considerably stronger claims with Riverside Theatre.
Deep Purple won the Charlie Hall and Peterborough Chase last term and ran just as well when third in former race this season. Possibly amiss at Newbury next time and he's got a bit to prove now, something which is true to varying degrees of all of the remainder.
After serving notice that he can play a major role at the top table when runner-up in the King George, it's very difficult to overlook Riverside Theatre in this line-up, the substance to his form all the more appealing than the residual potential of Pride of Dulcote.
Recommendation
Back Riverside Theatre to win the Betfair Ascot Chase
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