WHO'LL BE THE KING OF ASCOT?

Andrew Newton looks at a meet where big winners have prevailed

- Andrew Newton

It's 2024 folks well almost as you are probably getting this edition towards the end of December.

I hope you all have (or had) a good year there were certainly plenty of racing highlights - but, for me, it had to be the Constitution Hill's Champion Hurdle demolishing job as we now look forward to seeing his journey of potentially being one of the greats in this division. If only there were a few more to challenge him to see just how good he is.

Anyway, as we head into January, as we know, this month is one of the quieter months on the racing calendar and the weather often plays its part too let's hope we don't get another Beast From The East.

But jump racing fans will also know as we start another new year that the Cheltenham Festival is not too far away this year's four-day meeting starts on Tuesday March 12.

However, let's not get ahead of ourselves just yet and back to January the Grade One Clarence House Chase at Ascot, which will be run on Saturday January 20 and is a race that often gives us a few pointers ahead of the Champion Chase at Cheltenham in a few months.

In recent years we've seen the likes of Master Minded, Sprinter Sacre, Sire de Grugy, Dodging Bullets and Altior win the Clarence House Chase before going onto win the Champion Chase.

While top Irish handler Willie Mullins is no stranger to raiding Ascot in January with his main 2m chasers having won the prize with Un De Sceaux three times in the last eight years.