THE Tizzard stable have left their disappointments of last season well behind and Lostintranslation (154) became the team’s latest high-profile horse to repair a tarnished reputation when staying on strongly to win the Grade 2 1965 Chase at Ascot.

Sam Twiston-Davies was keen to make the most of Master Tommytucker’s race fitness and, as a result, the race was run at a strong pace from flag fall as the pair shared a contested lead with course specialist Dashel Drasher.

Brendan Powell, conscious his mount stays further, was never far away and ultimately timed his winning run to perfection as the leader wilted.

The overall time was faster furlong-by-furlong when compared to Before Midnight’s two-mile win and there was little to separate the two races at the third last fence when taking a view from the last fence with a circuit to run.

The difference at that point was 1.1 seconds or five lengths in favour of the two-milers when comparing the front runners, hence the appraisal the pace was strong.

The closing sectionals portray how strongly Lostintranslation saw out the trip as his 88.1 seconds from the sixth last fence at Swinley Bottom was just 0.5 seconds slower than Before Midnight (150) (87.6) from the same point.

If the son of Flemensfirth is to add to his success at the highest level the Betfair Chase over the course and distance in February would look more realistic than the King George VI chase on St Stephen’s Day where he has failed to complete on his previous two attempts.

Master Tommytucker (150) was very low at the last two fences leaving the impression this test is just beyond his stamina limit. This view is supported by his closing sectional of 89.6 seconds being 1.5 seconds slower than the winner.

Amoola Gold (150) further enhanced his Ascot record finishing strongly to fail by a short head to Before Midnight after a slight mistake at the third last checked his momentum, his closing sectional of 86.8 surpassed the winner despite not quite being fast enough to prevail on this occasion.

The son of Mamool remains in good form and should be considered wherever he is entered next, something like the Castleford Chase at Wetherby could enter calculations as his connections have won the race in recent times with a horse of similar profile in Marrcudja.

Sully D’Oc AA (147) finished to even better effect from the back of the field in posting 87.6 from the sixth last fence, his course win came over the extended two-mile trip and a return to a similar circumstance can see Anthony Honeyball’s gelding return to winning ways.

Stayers’ Buzz?

Buzz (155) propelled himself into the thick of the Stayers’ Hurdle picture for Cheltenham with a smooth success in the Grade 2 Coral Hurdle and now has his sights firmly fixed on the Long Walk Hurdle back at the Berkshire venue in December.

Song For Someone (154) set what looked a fierce pace from the outset which plays out on the video comparison although the body language of jockeys in the mares’ handicap hurdle depicted it was as much about the slow pace in their race as the gallop set by the Tom Symonds-trained gelding.

The superiority of the feature race was around 50 lengths faster and confirmed the difference between the overall race times when adjusted for distance.

The gap between the races lessened in the closing stages although Nicky Henderson’s gelding was still the fastest as he stopped the clock at 80.9 seconds compared to the 81.8 seconds posted by Tequila Blaze (120) and Flementside (110) 82.1 seconds in the novice and handicap hurdles.