The Inside Track on the Cross Country Handicap Chase

The last three winners of this cross-country handicap chase Big Shu, Balthazar King and Sizing Australia are all likely to be in the field again this year and with the race restricted to just 16 starters, many of the less well-known entries will be struggling to make the cut.

Sizing Australia is a 12-year-old now and no longer seems to be the force of old so, while he might still be up to running into a place, a second race victory looks beyond him.

Balthazar King has been a revelation since switched to race over these obstacles by Philip Hobbs, but he has an 11lb higher mark than when he won the race in 2012 to overcome and if the cross-country track doesn’t dry out sufficiently over the next few days, Hobbs may not allow him to take his chance.

Last year’s winner Big Shu is currently favourite for this year’s race and the gelding, who won a second major banks prize last season when landing the La Touche Cup at Punchestown after his

Cheltenham heroics, has an obvious chance of winning again.

He probably wasn’t fully tuned up when beaten at Punchestown on his seasonal reappearance so that isn’t a serious concern, but he just seems a short enough price now given that the handicapper has raised his mark by 11lb since last year and he’ll now be giving weight away to most of his rivals.

Enda Bolger has won four of the previous nine runnings of this race so his challengers are obviously worth paying serious attention to. Love Rory has won a Risk Of Thunder Chase and a P.P. Hogan Memorial Chase over the Punchestown banks so should cope with these obstacles.

However, the handicapper has taken a harsh view of his latest success where the horse benefitted from a clever tactical ride from Nina Carberry and as a result it’s hard to claim that Love Rory is well treated.

Quantitativeeasing appears to have been rejuvenated following his move to Bolger, but while it wouldn’t surprise if the JP McManus-owned horse was well supported on the day, he wouldn’t be one for me over this sort of extreme trip and I’d see Quiscover Fontaine as the more solid McManus challenger.

There has been some money around for Bolger’s fourth entry Star Neuville this week but he is going to need some withdrawals to make the field and could easily be balloted out.