Derham plotting double assault on William Hill Handicap Hurdle

Harry Derham will have two arrows to fire at the valuable William Hill Handicap Hurdle at Newbury on Saturday, with both Washington and Givemefive intended runners in the £155,000 event.

Washington arrives on a hat-trick having won at Chepstow on his first run for the yard before then justifying favouritism in a decent race at Fairyhouse worth €59,000 to the winner.

Givemefive is on something of a retrieval mission. The five-year-old, owned by golfers Graeme McDowell and Brooks Koepka among others, won at Cheltenham in October but was only fourth behind Anzadam at Fairyhouse before disappointing at Windsor last time out.

“Since Ireland, this has very much been the plan with Washington,” said Derham.

“We’ve left Givemefive in as well but he was obviously very disappointing last time out, so we’ll probably run him in a pair of blinkers.

“I thought we could forgive him his run in Ireland, as we’ve taken him over twice now and he hasn’t run to form, but that doesn’t excuse his last run at Windsor!

“That was his first handicap, though, and obviously he’s much better than that at his best. We’ve aimed him at this Newbury race all season and I’m not going to not run him just because he disappointed last time out.”

A total of 23 were confirmed, meaning all will get a run, as there is a limit of 24.

Secret Squirrel, Favour And Fortune, Fiercely Proud, Joyeuse and Lump Sum, the new top weight, are all in the mix.

Sir Gino is one of seven in the William Hill Game Spirit Chase. Nicky Henderson is not averse to running a novice in the Grade Two and Altior took this prize in 2017 before winning the Arkle. Sir Gino also holds a back-up entry in Warwick’s Kingmaker Novices’ Chase.

Edwardstone, JPR One, Matata and Djelo are among the entries and the latter also appears among eight possible contenders for the William Hill Denman Chase over three miles.

The Paul Nicholls duo of Bravemansgame and Hitman are on target, along with Jamie Snowden’s Ga Law.