Keeping faith with Cyrname to retain Wetherby’s Charlie Hall title

The horse was a scintillating winner of last year’s renewal under Harry Cobden before losing his way and being pulled up in his two subsequent runs.

But neither Nicholls, the champion trainer, nor Cobden have lost faith in this former Grade One winner whose jumping can be electrifying when at his very best.

“He will go straight to the Charlie Hall, which he won last year,” said the trainer. “I doubt he will have an entry in the King George at Kempton this year as I think we have worked out that it doesn’t really suit him. There will be other options for him.

“I wouldn’t be afraid to enter him in the Gold Cup if we won the Charlie Hall. If we went there fresh I think Cheltenham might suit him as he has got time to fill his lungs up and it is left handed but that is a long way off yet. He doesn’t want to run too often as he is not easy to get right but when he is, he is good.”

Wetherby’s feature race of the year, the Charlie Hall could see the reappearance of Scottish Grand National hero Mighty Thunder as trainers Lucinda Russell and Peter Scudamore eye up a tilt at the National proper next April.

The Randox Health Grand National is also the ultimate target for Top Ville Ben, another staying steeplechaser who is Charlie Hall-bound. The nine-year-old, trained at Catterick by Phil Kirby, has won three times over fences at the West Yorkshire circuit, including the Rowland Meyrick Chase on Boxing Day of 2019.

But after finishing third behind Santini and Bristol De Mai in the Cotswold Chase at Cheltenham the following month, Top Ville Ben was out of action for well over a year – and was pulled up on his comeback run over hurdles at Auteuil in April.

Having been buoyed by the success of Whoshotthesheriff in Wetherby’s Bobby Renton Chase last Wednesday, Kirby is looking forward to the Charlie Hall.

He said: “Top Ville Ben is in good form. I put him in at Chepstow last weekend as ideally we’d have liked to have got a run into him after a long time off, but it was too quick.

“He seems grand. He’s got plenty of enthusiasm. We’ll go straight to Wetherby. He’s as fit as Whoshotthesheriff – they’ve done the same work and everything, so we’ll see.”

While Kirby already has one eye on the world’s most famous steeplechase at Aintree in the spring, he admits Top Ville Ben will need some help from the handicapper if he is going to be competitive.

“The handicapper has given him a little bit of a chance for not running – he’s dropped him from 162 to 156,” the trainer continued.

“Maybe the aim would be the Grand National if he drops to a mark where you think he’ll get in and he’s on a mark where he’ll have a squeak. I’d rather win the Charlie Hall and not have to worry about it, though!”

The Kirby-trained Lady Buttons, one of the most popular National Hunt horses of recent years, will not be making a racecourse comeback.

Owned by Jayne and Keith Sivills, the mare was brought back into training after failing to fall into foal – but they have decided to allow Lady Buttons to pursue new riding disciplines with Kirby’s daughter Izzy.