Racegoers travelling to either Ascot or Haydock Park should probably take earplugs with them because the big guns are turning out.

The Grade One Victor Chandler Chase is the feature race on the Ascot card and, as a level-weights contest, it looks a penalty kick for Twist Magic. Or is it?

Sure, Kinkeel is rated just the small matter of 103lbs inferior to the favourite but can Twist Magic enforce his supremacy as easily as the markets might suggest? His trainer, Paul Nicholls, has gone on record as saying that Twist Magic is the best two-mile chaser bar stable companion Master Minded. And Twist Magic certainly looked the part when he won the Grade One Tingle Creek Chase at Sandown Park last month.      

However, Sandown clearly suits Twist Magic, as does better ground and quite probably two miles. The only time that Twist Magic has run at Ascot was in this race two years ago, again as hot favourite on testing ground and he finished 12 lengths second to Tamarinbleu. It is worth noting that this race is actually run over two miles and one furlong on a course that has a long uphill run to the winning post.

With that in mind it could be worth opposing the favourite with Petit Robin, who would be receiving 8lbs from Twist Magic if this race was still being run as a handicap.

The seven-year-old looks progressive – this will be just the 11th run of his career, and was the only one to really take on Master Minded in last year’s Queen Mother Champion Chase at the Cheltenham Festival. He paid the price in fading a little at the end to finish third and his next run – beaten 51 lengths by Voy Por Ustedes at Aintree in April – needs to be taken in context.

Petit Robin was still right in contention until a bad blunder at the third-last fence. That race, the Grade One Melling Chase, was run over two-and-a-half miles, and showed that any calls on stamina here will be answered positively, and he should be able to confirm the form with Well Chief –beaten three-and-three-quarter lengths at Kempton last month – even on 2lbs worse terms.

There will be a change of jockey for Petit Robin but, as second choices go, Tony McCoy is a pretty fair stand-in and has a 31% strike-rate riding for Nicky Henderson.

The reason that McCoy has got the call up is because Henderson’s stable jockey, Barry Geraghty,  rides Punjabi in the Grade Two sportingbet.com Champion Hurdle Trial at Haydock.  A turn out of just four runners but, having to concede between four and 8lbs, Punjabi will have to put up a better performance than he did last time out.

Then, in the Grade Two International Hurdle at Cheltenham in December, Punjabi was having his first run since April and Henderson had warned that he would need the run. Punjabi travelled strongly for a long way, but faded approaching the last and ended up finishing fourth, eight lengths behind Medermit who re-opposes on the same terms.

However, Punjabi is likely to be closer to the form he showed when he won last year’s champion Hurdle and that should be good enough. 

Two months ago it would have been hard to imagine that Fortification could ever win a race with a career record that read as 23 starts and no wins. Then he was switched to fences and has rattled up four wins from as many starts. The first three were for Ron Hodges, the most recent came for Nigel Hawke.

That was in a competitive handicap at Kempton last month and Fortification appears to be at his best with a stamina test, which he will get in the Grade Two Peter Marsh Chase. Fortification will be running off a career-high handicap mark but his amateur rider, Matt Griffiths, takes off a useful 7lbs with his claim and he comes to this race as, perhaps, the most progressive runner in the field.

Paul Wheeler