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Equinties - Sefton Saturday
BGP Capital
November 08, 2025
Gm Equinauts
A big day in the NH calendar today as Aintree features the Grand Sefton - the first time this season the plodders get a pop round the Grand National fences!
The Tote have guaranteed a huge £75k minimum placepot for the Liverpool meeting with Wincanton and Donny £50k.
Try the Placepot here: Tote | Offers
Don’t forget, by playing your singles on the Tote you’ll also get guaranteed SP (a great new feature) for unrestricted stakes.
Happy Saturday!
Let’s dive in.
HEADLINE ROUNDUP
EASY LEAD
As we said in yesterday’s newsletter, the Skelton’s have been getting a bit of flack from the Racing X judges (who just might have quite limited knowledge of horse racing) for some of Harry’s rides on their novice hurdlers.
We also said that the novice hurdlers and the “older horse” have to treated with a different brush, and yesterday at Exeter was a prime example.
The Skelton brothers had three on Haldon Gold Cup Day, including the main race itself and DOYEN QUEST in the Future Stars Silver Bowl Novices’ Chase. The two main winners were ridden perfectly inspired by Harry Skelton from the front, and they duly obliged, which ultimately made people fly out onto social media and say ‘it’s amazing what they can do when their horses are off’, but it’s really difficult to compare these established handicappers with first-time-out novice hurdlers for all the reasons we explained yesterday.
Anyway, let’s just focus on yesterday’s winners, starting with DOYEN QUEST, their first. He was really good. He just jumped from fence to fence, and the writing was on the wall from a very early point. QUEBECOIS may have made somewhat of a move rounding for home, but he was barely in the same parish as DOYEN QUEST, and those final four jumps sealed the race nicely.
Dan Skelton is thinking of the Coral Gold Cup at Newbury later this month, which could work, though it would be an extra two furlongs. They probably won’t be able to ride him the same way, which may be a small issue, but he jumps so nicely, and he would like nice ground.
Whether they go for this or wait for something like bet365 Handicap Chase at Donny - or even the Sir Peter O’Sullevan Memorial Handicap Chase one day before the Coral Gold Cup over 2m6f – he is certainly one to keep an eye on. He would get into the Hennessy off 139 (4lb penalty added to his current mark of 135 for winning yesterday), which is probably less than what the handicapper will reassess him to on Tuesday.
As for THISTLE ASK, his performance was similarly easy for the Skelton’s. He probably looked in a little bit more danger after the fourth-last as he didn’t jump it cleanly, but KALIF DU BERLAIS was already done by this point, and JPR ONE bowed out soon after.
SAINT SEGAL looked like a danger, but ultimately he didn’t lay a glove, and all of a sudden, Dan Skelton had nearly £80,000 to add to the prize money fund after two races.
So, two points here. Firstly, THISTLE ASK won very well when 9lbs out of the handicap. The handicapper will have to give him a mark in the 140s, potentially even as high as 145, and that would technically be a rise of 14lbs from his “current handicap mark” of 131.
Can be bat off that mark? Maybe, but the jury is still out. He was beaten off 108 in October 2024 after all, but that was his first start for 598 days, so maybe he can be forgiven.
Secondly, what does Paul Nicholls do with KALIF DU BERLAIS now? Harry Cobden was less than helpful on ITV by suggesting that he could do with a trip in time considering Nicholls thought he was a Champion Chase horse!
But, we must remember what they initially thought of the horse when he was a juvenile. After his win at Kempton as a juvenile (before the Adonis), Nicholls said: "John wants to win a Gold Cup one day and that's why he was bought. Everyone knew about the horse and no-one seemed to be able to buy him but thankfully John did.”
The late John Hales also said: "The Gold Cup is the one race I haven't won. This horse is beautiful. A big thank you goes to Anthony Bromley."
So, he was bought to be a Gold Cup horse, his half-brother stayed 2m4f, and he has family relations that won over 2m6f in France (KOBROUK). Maybe Nicholls has got it wrong? We imagine he will still run him in the Tingle Creek, because they have to be absolutely sure before confirming anything, but could he be more of a Ryanair type? Only time will tell.
One thing is for sure. He has to bounce back from that run yesterday, because the KALIF DU BERLAIS that showed up to Exeter on Friday would struggle to place in the Greatwood Gold Cup, let alone the Cheltenham Gold Cup.
