Definitly Red is worthy favourite as Brian Ellison and Phil Martin head into ‘unknown’ with star horse

The 10-year-old’s task in Sandown’s Oaksey Chase is made easier by the absence of the Paul Nicholls-trained Cyrname, the highest-rated steeplechaser in Britain, due to the likely quick ground.

While Cyrname’s stablemate Black Corton is the anticipated favourite under newly-crowned champion conditional jockey Bryony Frost, Definitly Red’s superior jumping prevailed when the two horses clashed in Wetherby’s Charlie Hall Chase last November.

Definitly Red, the mount of regular rider Danny Cook who has won eight times in total on the chestnut horse, then won a second successive Many Clouds Chase at Aintree before being unluckily brought down in last month’s Cheltenham Gold Cup when travelling well.

The only doubts are any lingering effects from a fall that left the horse with cuts and bruises – and a drop back in trip to two miles and six furlongs for this Grade Two prize.

“He’s in good form and I’m really happy with him,” Malton-based Ellison told The Yorkshire Post last night. “Like most of the runners, he could do with a bit of rain.

“He’s won at Catterick and Doncaster going right-handed so I’m not bothered about the track. I think he should be favourite – Black Corton will be favourite – but we beat him at Wetherby.

“We are better now than we were at Wetherby.”

Ellison is referring to the horse’s more conservative campaign so Definitly Red could be at his peak for the top end-of-season races.

Still travelling well in the Gold Cup when coming to grief at the 10th of 22 fences after Invitation Only fell, the horse was forced to miss Aintree’s Grand National meeting.

Owner Phil Martin, a retired businessman from Tickhill, opted for today’s test over next week’s Punchestown Gold Cup in Ireland that could feature, among heroes, the Willie Mullins-trained Cheltenham hero Al Boum Photo in a fiercely competitive renewal.

“It’s been a positive season – that he won the Charlie Hall, a special race, and the Many Clouds again,” said Martin who owns the horse with his wife Julie.

“It was disappointing at Cheltenham because Brian thought he (Definitly Red) had never been better and, although there was still a long way to go, he was travelling well and certainly better than the previous year when he didn’t handle the very tacky ground.

“Two Grade Two wins in a season, you can’t be disappointed. The trip at Sandown is a bit of an unknown – his best form is over but it is a stiff track with an uphill finish. We’ll be giving it our best shot.

“He was so well after the Gold Cup that Brian wanted to run him – and the only other options would have been to take on the big guns in Ireland which would have been asking a bit much.”

The Oaksey Chase, a race which has grown in stature in recent years, celebrates the life and times of the late John Oaksey, the renowned racing enthusiast, writer and broadcaster who was one of the driving forces behind the Injured Jockeys Fund.

His daughter Sara Bradstock, and her husband Mark, train Step Back who will attempt to win back-to-back renewals of the bet365 Gold Cup – previously known as the Whitbread.

The horse was a 13-length winner of the traditional end-of-season highlight 12 months ago, but has not been in the same form so far this season.

After disappointing at Chepstow in October and Warwick in January, the nine-year-old cut out the running in the Grand National at Aintree three weeks ago before eventually being pulled up.

Connections hope the application of a tongue-tie will help turn Step Back’s fortunes around.

She said: “We’d like to see a bit of rain, because if there was any jar in the ground we wouldn’t run him.

“He seems in good form. He surprised us how well he came out of the National because he’s not the sort of robust horse that you would normally run again so quickly. We’re fairly sure he bruised his foot early on at Aintree – and because of that, he didn’t give himself a hard race.”