Top Wood returns at Ascot

Randox Health Foxhunters’ Chase winner Top Wood lines up in a handicap chase at Ascot today.

Trainer Kelly Morgan (pictured above), who has not ruled Top Wood out of a return to Aintree in April, runs the Johnny Weatherby-owned 12-year-old in a three-mile chase (3.15). Conditional jockey Tabitha Worsley takes the ride, having been an amateur when winning on Top Wood over Aintree’s Grand National fences.

In a competitive race Top Wood faces a stiff challenge – Morgan has reignited old flames in the horse, as he proved when third in Cheltenham’s Foxhunter Chase before his Aintree victory, but that came off a mark of 137 and his handicap rating has since been raised to 139. Worsley’s 5lb allowance eases the burden.

There is further interest for point-to-point followers at Ffos Las, where the David Brace-owned-and-trained Colorado Doc reappears in a maiden hurdle (2.15) after missing last season. When last seen on a racecourse, in the spring of 2018 at Ston Easton, Colorado Doc (pictured below) won a men’s open race in which Lotus Pond finished second. The runner-up later won two point-to-points, including the Lady Dudley Cup, followed by three handicap chases. Connor Brace, who at the time was on his way to the Fuller’s novice riders’ championship and has since become a conditional jockey, takes the ride for his grandfather today.

Colorado Doc (Bradley Gibbs) leading at Ston Easton in 2018

Today’s Ffos Las card also provides a stage for the return of Bleue Away, who won a point-to-point Flat race and a maiden point-to-point last season for Phil Rowley’s yard. The mare was subsequently sold for £60,000 to trainer Anthony Honeyball, who runs her in today’s bumper (3.55).