Dashel Drasher© Photo Healy Racing
Dashel Drasher is set to return to chasing when he makes his seasonal reappearance in the CopyBet 1965 Chase at Ascot this weekend.
The 11-year-old has not been seen since finishing some way back in the Aintree Hurdle in April and trainer Jeremy Scott thinks a return to the bigger obstacles can reinvigorate his popular gelding.
Dashel Drasher has largely been campaigned over hurdles over the last two years and has not tackled fences since finishing second to Noble Yeats in the Many Clouds Chase in December 2022.
He has won three times in five starts over fences at Ascot – including a famous Grade One strike in the Ascot Chase of 2021.
Scott said: “I think the two-five round Ascot suits him very well.
“We obviously want quite a lot of give in the ground, but they are forecast rain so I’m very hopeful ground conditions will improve there for him. He quite often needs his first run, but he’s on very good form.
“We’re probably three weeks later than we would have liked to have been purely because we’ve been waiting for ground, I think he’s pretty straight so it will be interesting to see him back over fences.
“I think we just take every race as it comes. He’s got to an age where he’s not improving and if I felt that if we were really struggling and he wasn’t enjoying it then we’d make a call after each race as we go along.
“At home there’s every sign that he’s got all the enthusiasm that he’s ever had so I’m very optimistic that mixing up hurdling and chasing, predominantly chasing, is where we’d like to explore this year and it might just rejuvenate his fortunes.
“Our immediate plan would be this race or we’re thinking of the Rehearsal Chase up at Newcastle or if ground conditions weren’t right at either of those places and if the ground was OK at Newbury we’d run in the hurdle race he won last year (Long Distance Hurdle) at the Hennessy meeting.”
Meanwhile, Scott is keeping his options open with his high-class mare Golden Ace.
The six-year-old has a perfect record over hurdles, winning all four of her starts last season, highlighted by getting the better of Brighterdaysahead in the Mares’ Novices’ Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival.
She holds an entry in the Ascot Hurdle this weekend, with the Fighting Fifth at Newcastle and the Gerry Feilden at Newbury also options.
Scott added: “The race we entered her in at Ascot is two-three, we could also go for Newcastle and we could also go in the Gerry Feilden at Newbury and timing-wise that would be slightly better in terms of fitness, but again we’re slightly regulated by ground.
“After this week it does look to be drying up a bit and Newcastle doesn’t look to be getting the rain that we’re getting down south so we’re leaning ground-wise to Newbury or Ascot.
“She’s in very good order. We just had a hiccup in training, she had a pulled muscle so we haven’t had a clean run at getting here today and we would have hoped to have run her probably three weeks ago.
“Most of the horses have taken a run to get going and she may well be the same. Ideally we’d have another week on her, but if the ground conditions are right – she’s very well and fresh – we’d probably give Ascot a go.”
All four of Golden Ace’s hurdle wins have come in the hands of Scott’s stable jockey Lorcan Williams and Scott believes their partnership has been key to her success.
“They’re a great combination, he does a brilliant job of keeping a lid on her,” he said.
“It’s going to be much harder now we’re up against the grown ups and we’ve got to see where we fit in in terms of ability compared to those senior campaigners, so it’ll be very interesting to see how we get on.”
Looking ahead to the Cheltenham Festival, Scott is leaning towards the Mares’ Hurdle for Golden Ace and said: “At the moment one would think the most likely place was the mares. We won over two and a half miles there as well as two miles.
“It’ll be interesting in the next few months. We will slightly experiment with trip a bit if we can to get a better handle on it, but historically the mares is a much weaker event anyway so I’d imagine that’s where we’d be.”
