Nacarat like a new horse

The National Hunt season was thrust firmly into the spotlight the previous weekend by the evergreen Monet's Garden and on Saturday it was the turn of another grey, Nacarat, to land the feature prize.

The two horses in question are nearer white than grey these days, but their advancing age shows no sign of slowing them down.

Nacarat (6-1) was in danger of becoming something of a nearly horse in top company, with his career highlight coming in the Racing Post Chase, a handicap, albeit a good one.

However, his trainer Tom George said before the bet365 Charlie Hall Chase at Wetherby he had trained him differently this time, and free from aches and pains, he beat The Tother One by four lengths without being seriously extended in the hands of Sam Thomas in the "We've had a much easier preparation with him this year and I'm delighted the hard work everyone has put in has done the trick," said George. "He has worked just like a normal horse in the past but now he's working like a good horse and I hope there is a lot more to come, as he will improve for this.

"The ground has helped him and we'll have to decide where we run him next, but the King George has to be high on his list of targets.

"We'll obviously have to improve to get the better of Kauto, but without him I think we'd have been a good winner of the race last year.

"We'll see how he is before we decide if he runs again before then."

The diminutive Fair Along won the other big race, the John Smith's West Yorkshire Hurdle, following up his victory from 12 months ago. Philip Hobbs' terrier was ridden by Rhys Flint who said: "He's one of the best jumpers I've ridden over hurdles and he's the horse that really got my career going."

Hobbs and Fair Along's owner, Alan Peterson, were at Ascot and both enjoyed amazing days.

Peterson moved former Cheltenham Festival winner Massini's Maguire (8-1) to David Pipe from Hobbs, but there were no hard feelings as he won the 100,000 United House Gold Cup.

Tom Scudamore was seen at his best on the former suspect jumper, but deflected praise on to his boss Pipe.

"It's been a great effort by David and the team at home and he is a great advert for Pond House," he said.

"He's been a fantastic horse down the years. He's battled and he's tough."

Hobbs notched an Ascot treble of his own thanks to Dunraven Storm (11-8), Safari Journey (10-1) and Persian Snow (3-1).

Dunraven Storm was the most exciting of the trio and looks set for a mouthwatering clash with Cue Card at Cheltenham's Paddy Power meeting.

It was Newmarket's final meeting of the season with racegoers keen to see Henry Cecil's Derby hope Picture Editor in the bet365 Zetland Stakes, but he could only finish third behind Brian Meehan's Indigo Way (11-2). "He has been working brilliantly at home and seems to have gone over the top overnight and ran flat.I'm not worried about it," explained Cecil.

However, the Warren Place handler was on the mark with Timepiece in the Listed bet365 James Seymour Stakes. "She would have won about seven lengths if she hadn't drifted across to the stands rail. She's got a lot of ability and will stay in training to prove what we think of her," said Cecil.

Godolphin won the two other Listed races with the filly Blue Bunting (10-1) and Kingsfort (10-1) who are both set to head out to Dubai for the Carnival.