Hunter Chases with Professional Jockeys

I have always felt slightly uneasy when the top trainers run horses in hunter chases. Of course it's all within the rules but to me not within the spirit of what these races are for - the chance for point to point trainers to have runners at proper racetracks.

Owing to the convids it's now got worse because amateur riders cannot take part under the rules which allow elite sport to continue. There used to a bit of an angle because the standard of those amateurs varies enormously. 

Which leads me to the 4.10 hunter chase at Warwick today. As I type there are 17 runners, showing how keen the point to point trainers are to run their horses - despite the really tough jumping test which is Warwick and the inevitable very heavy going.

Olly Murphy (see my first paragraph) has a runner, The World's End, who was near to top class under 'rules', winning a grade 1 and coming 6th in the Stayers' championship at the Cheltenham festival. He will be favourite.

But lets hope one of the little trainers has a good day. Ange des Malberaux is trained by a Miss Nimmo, who happily I have never heard of. As far as I can tell this is only her second runner in such a race. The horse was with Dan Skelton in the past and it is virtually impossible to improve a horse from that stable but Miss Nimmo has got him running ok in points (4th in a 11 runner race at Barbury). He is a dodgy jumper but that's reflected in the price (33/1 with Bet365). And I used to enjoy Derek on Just a Minute!

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