Exciting second-season chaser Easter Day (11st) features among 22 five-day confirmations for the Listed £75,000 Sky Bet Chase, highlight of a superb day's racing on day two of Doncaster's Sky Bet Chase meeting on Saturday.
The Paul Nicholls-trained chaser, 7/1 favourite for the three-mile handicap chase with Sky Bet, beat subsequent RSA Chase victor O'Faolains Boy in a graduation chase at Ascot in December, 2013, before colic curtailed his campaign.
Following a year on the sidelines, the seven-year-old returned with a creditable third in another graduation chase at Newbury on December 17. Nicholls could also be represented by Cowards Close (9st 11lb & 12/1), who was third in a Grade Three handicap chase at Cheltenham in December.
The weights are headed by Medermit(11st 12lb & 12/1), a Grade One winner over fences. The 11-year-old's trainer Alan King may also be represented by Scottish Grand National runner-up Godsmejudge (11st 5lb &14/1), while Nicky Henderson has left in Sandown Gold Cup hero Hadrian's Approach (11st 10lb & 14/1).
Night In Milan (11st 4lb & 14/1), trained in Cleveland by Keith Reveley, boasts a superb record at Doncaster having captured a pair of handicap chases at the South Yorkshire track including last year's Grimthorpe Chase.
The nine-year-old produced a rare below-par effort at Town Moor in last year's Sky Bet Chase but ran a fine race over the same course and distance to go down by a head to Grandads Horse (11st 3lb & 20/1) when carrying top-weight in a handicap chase on December 13.
Reveley reported today: "Night In Milan is an intended runner in the Sky Bet Chase. The weather went against him last year - it poured down with rain beforehand and he doesn't like that sort of ground. We are praying for decent going this weekend and hopefully he can run very well.
"He is in great order at the moment. He did really well through the summer and came back quite fat, which meant that he needed his first couple of runs over hurdles. He probably needed his last run as well because James (Reveley) felt that he blew up at the third last fence before getting his second wind.
"He loves Doncaster but is better on good ground. He is on a career-high rating of 146, which is way above his last winning mark, but he is an improving type of horse. If he gets his ground and jumps well, then hopefully he can still compete off that mark.
"The plan is to run him in this race, come back for the Grimthorpe Chase again and then go for the Grand National."
Other leading contenders include the Philip Hobbs-trained pair of Catterick scorer If In Doubt (10st 11lb & 9/1) and the hat-trick seeking Royal Player (11st 5lb & 11/1), plus Present View (11st 4lb & 14/1) and Attaglance (10st 13lb & 14/1), who were first and second in the Listed Rewards4Racing Novices' Handicap Chase at the Cheltenham Festival.
Final declarations for the Sky Bet Chase will be made at 10am on Thursday, January 22.
Sky Bet Racing PR Manager Michael Shinners said: "It looks to be shaping up into a cracking renewal of the Sky Bet Chase. Plenty of the major stables are set to be represented and there's every chance the race will again prove to be a springboard to the big spring Festivals for several of these horses."
Sky Bet Chase - Sky Bet prices:
7/1 Easter Day, 9/1 If In Doubt, 11/1 Royal Player, 12/1 Cowards Close, Medermit, 14/1 Attaglance, Godsmejudge, Hadrian's Approach, Night In Milan, Present View, 16/1 Fairy Rath, Glenquest, Lost Legend, Renard, 18/1 Indian Castle, 20/1 Baileys Concerto, Buck Mulligan, Grandads Horse, 25/1 Caulfields Venture, Mr Moonshine, Vino Griego, Yes Tom
Each way ¼ odds, 1-2-3-4
