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THE new national hunt season gets into full stride this afternoon with the Grade Two Charlie Hall Chase (3.00) at Wetherby with a small, but select field of just four set to go to post for this extended three-mile event.

Two stayers return for this year’s renewal, the 2022 winner BRAVEMANSGAME and the last home that day, the much-vaunted Ahoy Senor. There were 39.5 lengths between the two of them that day with the latter racing very freely and jumping awkwardly, whereas the Paul Nicholls-charge travelled strongly, jumped as sweet as a nut and powered up the final home straight for a textbook win.

If ever a race was made for the Ditcheat runner then this is it. He has a good record fresh, his jumping is economical and he is clearly top rated. But the race perhaps doesn’t revolve around him, it centres on Ahoy Senor who was clearly better than that first run of the season last year, as his subsequent starts in the Gold Cup and Aintree Bowl strongly suggest. So will there be anything different about him this time around? It is hard to tell.

Trainer Lucinda Russell tells us he is much fitter this time around and more relaxed in his home work. That is taken on trust, and with Gentlemansgame likely to lead and try to take advantage of his race fitness, the shape of the race in running should in theory leave the Senor with few excuses this time around. However, I feel whatever he does, rated 3lbs inferior to the selection, this scenario so suits last year’s hero that he is once again terribly hard to oppose, despite his limited price offering.

The rest of the card looks tough to call, even with several small fields during the afternoon. The softer the ground, the better for Stayers Hurdle runner-up Dashel Drasher, but even on a relatively easy track I am still not so sure that he sees out three miles, and he could well set this up for the 2022 Cheltenham second THYME HILL.

He took well to fences in the early part of last year, but then ran two below par races in the Brown Advisory and in then back over timber in the Select Hurdle at Sandown. At nine going on 10, time could well be catching up on him, but there is a fair margin on official figures back to the next pair in the betting, Botox Has (found out at Grade Two level twice) and last year’s Gold Cup hero Ga Law, the latter the best part of 14lbs behind the top two in the market.

I think that CRUZ CONTROL will win whether he runs in the Wetherby 1.15 or the Ascot 1.30. He had a lovely introduction to the larger obstacles when staying on at the one pace at Ffos Las last month, and the extra half mile should be of benefit to him here.

Later on at Wetherby, the two-and-a-half-mile handicap hurdle at 3.30 looks competitive and the winner two years ago, Haafapiece, should run well off a 1lb lower mark, but he may just find TIGER JET too hot to handle. Three miles was seemingly beyond him recently, and now that he is back down to a handicap mark of 117 on deep ground, the son of Jet Away could be a huge player at a double figure price.

There may only be seven runners in the Listed Mares Hurdle at 1.50, but it has a quality feel to it. I think that Luccia is probably the class act here, but her natural speed may well be blunted on the deep ground if Nicky Henderson lets her take her chance, and if it turns into a slog it may well suit KATEIRA better. Dan Skelton’s charge looks sure to be suited by further as we go through the season, and I suspect that You Wear It Well could set this up from the bottom of the home stretch.

At Ascot the big betting race of the day is the Gold Cup Handicap Chase at 3.45. Eldorado Allen has been given a real chance by the assessor, especially with Freddie Gingell taking a further 7lbs off his back, taking his rating all the way down to 147. If the ground doesn’t deteriorate too much, I may well be having a saver on him at around the 8/1 mark, but with plenty of rain forecast through Friday, the each-way play surely has to be LARRY, twice a winner at the Berkshire track off 132 and only 3lbs higher here.

We will quickly know our fate with the Gary Moore charge as he does tend to struggle to negotiate the opening obstacles, but once that is achieved and he gets into some kind of a rhythm, he is taken to cut down those up front from the home turn. Based on last season’s form it is easy to conclude that Monbeg Genius is still well weighted, but he will need a career best off a 7lbs higher mark, while I shall be keeping an eye on the market to see if there is any support for Victtorino after Venetia Williams had a runaway winner at Chepstow last week and her other runner ran well for a long way.

Our Champ is likely to go off favourite for the two-mile handicap hurdle at 3.15 and he is very much on an upward curve, but in the testing conditions I fancy a massive run from BAD. This French import was heavily backed in the ante-post markets for his British debut in the Cheltenham Gold Cup, but was way too keen and had nothing left in the tank between the final two hurdles. He was subsequently unlucky over the course and distance in April and has been dropped 4lbs for those two runs and of course gets weight for age, and at around 12/1 looks a very healthy each-way play.