text: Paul Nicholls thinks he’s found the key and there’s no doubting that Politologue has all the tools required to thrive at this test given he’s jumping - and finishing off his races - so well. Harry Cobden, back on board with Harry Skelton committing to Nube Negra in the Champion Chase, will be looking forward to riding this new model given he rode the grey to four defeats either side of his wind surgery.
  It’s probably fair to say that Politologue didn’t beat a horse as good as Waiting Patiently in either the Champion Chase or the Tingle Creek. Defi Du Seuil might have something to say about that, but we’ll get onto him in a moment.
  For Waiting Patiently deserves to be positioned second in the billing following his superb reappearance in the King George on the back of 385 days off the track last month. He was keen at Kempton, the stop-start gallop didn’t particularly suit him and he still ran on for a never-nearer second at the line.
  A ‘headache’ to train according to Ruth Jefferson, she’s keen to strike while the iron is hot and has supplemented the 10-year-old given he’s going so well at home. The drop back to a two-mile trip is the question mark with him, but going a yard quicker could help him settle better and he was only beaten a length by a then in-form Defi Du Seuil in the 2019 Tingle Creek.
  There is little doubt that he needs a strong gallop to aim at over two miles and 167 yards, but he should get that on Saturday with Politologue, First Flow, Bun Doran and Duc Des Genievres all likely to want to get on with things. It could work out nicely for him. The more I think about this, the more I think he’s the bet at around 5/2 or even 11/4 if you’re lucky.
  Waiting Patiently, remember, has struck at Grade One level before and at this track. He won the Betfair Ascot Chase over 2m5f in the February of 2018 from Cue Card – a rare victory for a northern-trained horse in what have been lean times.