Saint Palais has nothing to lose in Wetherby Grade Two, believes Harry Bannister

The expectation is that Peter Scudamore and Lucinda Russell’s highly-regarded Ahoy Senor will be the horse to beat in the Towton Novices Chase – final declarations close at 10am.

But Saint Palais is unbeaten from his three steeplechase starts this season – all the more impressive given the Tim Syder-owned horse only became five-years-old on New Year’s Day.

And, while Bannister was in action elsewhere when Saint Palais won at Wetherby in early December, he was in the saddle for wins at Warwick – and then a dramatic Mandarin Chase at Newbury when catching David Pipe’s Gericault Roque in the shadow of the winning post.

That ride saw Bannister, whose family own The Coniston Hotel in the Yorkshire Dales, receive plaudits for his persistence in the saddle and praise from, amongst others, ITV Racing pundit Luke Harvey who recently described the Yorkshireman as one of the hardest-working jockeys in the country.

Fortunate that both he, and his mount For Pleasure, escaped unscathed from a heavy final-fence fall in Doncaster’s Lightning Novices’ Chase last Saturday – “you make sure you jump clear at the right time” – Bannister is relaxed about the Towton test.

“It should be good – I don’t think we have a huge amount to lose,” he told The Yorkshire Post last night. “He’s very straightforward and very easy to ride – push button.”

Yet what encourages Bannister for the future is the French-bred chaser is still improving and was doing his best work at the end of the Mandarin when closing down the leaders.

“God knows what his ceiling is,” reflected the rider.

“I was hoping he would do that and he showed us that he’s up to the standard that we expected him to be.

“If Ahoy Senor wins, it will because he was expected to, but, with the weight allowances we will be receiving, we deserve to take our chance.”

This was reiterated by the horse’s trainer Richard Bandey following a successful schooling session on Tuesday.

“He’s in good form and I think we will take our chance,” reported the Hampshire trainer.

“He’s done absolutely nothing wrong this season. He’s had a nice progression through the grades and we thought this was a nice option.

“It’s a track he’s won round already this season.

“He won’t mind the ground. Obviously, Ahoy Senor is quite a talking horse but we’re not afraid of taking him on and having a crack. He ran on good ground over hurdles over two miles.

“There is a bit of rain forecast so it could be good to soft and I’d be happy with that.”

Meanwhile, Aye Right could be headed for the Boodles Cheltenham Gold Cup after his creditable run in the Cotswold Chase on Saturday under Callum Bewley.

Harriet Graham was delighted with Aye Right’s effort in finishing third to Chantry House and is still looking at the Gold Cup. However, the Jedburgh trainer will give her stable star an alternative entry at the Festival in the Ultima Handicap Chase that was won by Sue and Harvey Smith’s Vintage Clouds in 2021.

“Obviously, the Gold Cup is fairly ambitious whereas the Ultima is maybe more within his abilities, but he’ll probably be carrying top weight and he’s not the biggest horse in the world. We might just have a pop at the Gold Cup,” she said. “We’re not going for the National.”

Graham switched to a joint licence with former jockey Gary Rutherford on Tuesday and is looking forward to seizing new opportunities. “Gary can take some of the responsibility now!” she said.

“Hopefully we’ll be able to get a few more horses and maybe run one or two on the Flat as well, which is totally new to me but one has to think of a year-round business rather than predominately winter-spring.”