Great start to the jumps season for Grandeur d’Ame at Chepstow

Two winners and four places for Barbury this week is more than acceptable. One Glance made a winning debut over hurdles at Ludlow on Wednesday, and today Grandeur d’Ame started the jumps season proper in style when going in at the first time of asking at Chepstow.

Grandeur d’Ame is best fresh, so not having run since pulling up at Newbury seven months ago was not a worry, and Tom Bellamy made full use of his mount’s light weight, being in the first three throughout in the John Ayres Memorial Handicap Chase.

Once Grandeur d’Ame struck the front at the third last he was never going to get beat, and he stayed on in determined fashion to hold off Ga Law by two lengths.

Part-owner Tim Syder said:”Grandeur d’Ame jumped brilliantly all the way round, and he has a good record fresh so we came here hopeful. Tom got him into a great rhythm, which reminded me the way he rode Eclair Surf when they won the Classic Chase at Warwick in 2022.”

Sadly, Eclair Surf took a heavy fall at the big ditch, the third, in the Grand National that year, which proved fatal, but Grandeur d’Ame has been catching the eye at home and could give owners plenty to celebrate this winter, particularly in the first half of the season.

Grandeur d’Ame, who made a winning seasonal debut at Wetherby last November but lost his way after finishing an excellent fourth in the December Gold Cup at Cheltenham’s pre-Christmas meeting last year, summered particularly well so could be worth another shot at that valuable chase in two months time.