Definitly Red looking good although Wetherby going may not suit

This was Definitly Red clearing the last to win the 2018 Charlie Hall Chase under Danny Cook.

Victory today in the 40th running of the celebrated race would see Ellison’s chestnut become the seventh dual winner of a race long-regarded as the early highlight of the National Hunt season.

These past two-time winners include champions of the likes of Wayward Lad, One Man and dual Cheltenham Gold Cup hero See More Business.

Defintly Red, owned by Tickhill businessman Phil Martin and his wife Julie, won the 2018 renewal on good ground under Danny Cook, who is sidelined after suffering facial injuries in a fall at Market Rasen a fortnight ago when a pursuing horse kicked him in the face and left him needing 50 stitches.

Definitly Red's past wins include the 2018 Cotswolds Chase at Cheltenham.

He is replaced in the saddle by Middleham’s Henry Brooke, who partnered the horse to a fourth place finish over the Grand National fences in last December’s Becher Chase at Aintree.

Ellison’s main fear is the type of sticky ground that saw Definitly Red finish a leg-weary fourth in the 2019 Charlie Hall to Ballyoptic, who returns to defend his title and add to the record six wins already accrued by his trainer, Nigel Twiston-Davies, in this race.

“Red’s fine and in good form,” reported Ellison. “As long as it’s not too tacky, he will be fine. He’s not a big horse so he just struggles to get through it. He has a very fair chance if conditions are okay.”

Lisnagar Oscar gets a first chance to show his victory in the Stayers’ Hurdle at Cheltenham was no fluke when he returns to action in the bet365 Hurdle at Wetherby.

Rebecca Curtis believes her shock 50-1 winner of the three-mile showpiece at the Festival in March can dispel the doubters in this Grade Two contest registered as the West Yorkshire Hurdle.

“It’s great to get him out again. He seems in really good form at home,” said the Pembrokeshire trainer.

“Obviously, Wetherby is a completely different track to Cheltenham. He loves Cheltenham, but at the same time I think he should run very well.

“He’s got the penalty to give away – but he’s won his Grade One, it’s racing and that’s only fair.”

Hollie Doyle is relishing the chance to cap an amazing campaign with her first ride at the Breeders’ Cup next week.

Fresh from breaking her own British record for the most winners in a calendar year by a female jockey, Doyle enjoyed a Champions Day double at Ascot a fortnight ago – including her first victory at Group One level as Hambleton Racing’s Glen Shiel clung on by a nose in the British Champions Sprint.

The 24-year-old will break new ground again in Kentucky, where she has been booked to partner Mighty Gurkha for Glen Shiel’s trainer Archie Watson in Friday’s Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint.

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