Saturday 15th February 2020

Another weekend another storm, this time it’s Dennis doing his worst. Wincanton has been abandoned, Ascot and Haydock have passed morning inspections but continue to monitor conditions. It would be no surprise if a further meeting was lost during the day.

I’ve been very taken by the efforts of Sam Brown of late trained by Anthony Honeyball. Sam Brown runs this afternoon in the Reynoldstown Chase, 1:50 Ascot.

A lightly raced 8yo that’s had his problems but clearly very talented. Sam Brown has been hugely impressive in his two runs since December 2017.

A 22 length winner at Lingfield, then 15 length winner at Haydock both efforts came on heavy ground. Conditions will be ideal at Ascot but the race is a big step up in class. Pym and Copperhead are two smart horses whilst the other three rivals can’t be ruled out either.

I love the way Sam Brown goes about his business, jumps and gallops his rivals silly. We’ll find out how good Sam Brown is, I’m hoping very smart. I’ve backed him at 5-2.

The horse has two entries for the Cheltenham Festival, RSA and the National Hunt Chase. The RSA I would have thought is the most likely target.

If the ground, came up good that would be a worry as Sam Brown might not run. If he gets beat today that could be that too. However, if you can get NRNB, I wouldn’t put you off having a few pounds EW before today’s race at 14-1.