Named after his late father, it’s no surprise that Nicky Henderson likes to target this race. He’s already won it twice and WHATSWRONGWITHYOU looks to have a decent chance of giving him a third victory in the race.
Sent off just 8/1 for this race last season, he didn’t have a favourable trip that day having been held up in race that favoured those that were up with the pace. As the action unfolded after the 3rd last, Whatswrongwithyou (WWWY) was still back in 12th – he made some headway on the turn for home but he didn’t have a chance of closing on the leading group; he eventually finished 7th, 10 lengths behind Croco Bay.
Plenty of encouragement can be taken from that effort; he was a novice with just three chase starts to his name when he ran in the race last season and those runs came in field sizes of four, three and three. 13 of the last 15 winners had run at a previous festival while 8 of the last 14 winners had run in the Grand Annual before, including 4 of the last 5. WWWY will certainly be wiser to the task this time around.
After having wind surgery in the summer, WWWY made his seasonal reappearance in a competitive handicap chase at Newbury that was won by Magic Saint, with subsequent Desert Orchid winner, Bun Doran, back in 2nd. He was in with every chance approaching the third from home (traded at 2/1 in running) but he sprawled on landing, ending his race on the spot.
His last run was over 2m4f in heavy ground at Chepstow. He’s always been a keen going type and the conditions of that race seemed to stretch his stamina. It was encouraging to see him travel into the race well but you could see that the tank was empty as he entered the final few furlongs; his head carriage became awkward and he put in a tired leap at the last.
Dropped 3lbs for his last run, he’s now rated 139 which is 6lbs lower than when running in this race last season. We haven’t seen him since December but the last 5 winners of this race arrived after a break.
He’s been lightly raced for a 9-year-old, with just 15 starts under rules and only 7 over fences; only two winners of the race this century had more than 12 chase starts so the unexposed types tend to come to the fore.
Nicky Henderson said “I’m sure he can win a decent prize” when talking about this horse in a stable tour at the beginning of the season – hopefully he can deliver that here.
BACK WHATSWRONGWITHYOU for the GRAND ANNUAL @ 33/1 EW
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