Djelo can win the Charlie Hall Chase at Wetherby

CHRIS WRIGHT AIMS TO BE FIRST PAST THE FINISHING POST WITH TODAY’S TOP TIPS

- 

DJELO can secure victory in the bet365 Charlie Hall Chase (GBB Race) (2.57pm) at Wetherby this afternoon.

Venetia Williams’ seven-year-old can take the Grade One feature at the West Yorkshire track.

Djelo progressed well last season and won the Peterborough Chase at Huntingdon over 2m4f in November and the Denman Chase over just short of three miles at Newbury in February, beating Hitman - who won the Old Roan Chase at Aintree Racecourse last weekend - by three-and-a-half lengths.

He has a good record coming off a break and won on his seasonal return in 2023 when scoring in a handicap at Aintree in November of that year.

He was beaten in the Ryanair Chase at the Cheltenham Festival in March and was sixth of seven in the 3ml1f Bowl Chase at the Randox Grand National meeting on his most recent start in April. He was probably feeling the effects of a long season in those two runs and following a summer break and on what is likely to be soft conditions, Djelo can bounce back to form to triumph.

Djelo was well beaten in the Fleur De Lys Chase at Windsor by the Dan Skelton-trained reopposing Protek-torat in February, but that rival - who was a Grade One winner in the Betfair Chase at Haydock Park in 2022 - is a 10-year-old now and may need a run or two to get back to something like his best.

He obviously sets the standard on past form and is likely to go well. But on this occasion it may be Djelo - as he did in the Peterborough Chase - who comes out on top.

Paul Nicholls’ Pic D’orhy can do well if he stays this longer trip, while The Real Whacker - who won the Charlie Hall Chase last year - is another who has a chance in a wide-open renewal of the extended three-mile contest.