In-form Channon backing Ferrous to show his metal

Jack Channon is confident in-form stable star Ferrous can give a good account in his bid to continue his perfect five-year-old campaign by landing the Chipchase Stakes at Newcastle on Saturday.

The son of Dark Angel has yet to taste defeat in 2025 after clinching three victories on the all-weather at Lingfield, Southwell and Gosforth Park, and he will return to the latter in his bid to win the Group Three race over six furlongs.

“He’s going up in grade and taking on better horses, we just hope he’s good enough to take them on,” Channon said.

“He seems to like the all-weather and he’s in great form, so we go there with a great chance.”

Channon and his team at West Ilsley have been in hot form in recent weeks, which included a run of five winners from seven runners earlier this month, and the trainer praised the efforts of his staff.

“We work very hard, it’s not as straightforward as you think, we work really hard to pick the right races with the right conditions and the right people on board,” he added.

“The team at West Ilsley are doing an amazing job to produce all the horses, there’s a lot that goes into it, but I’m just thankful it’s going well.”

Ferrous’ winning streak has convinced Channon that regardless of his performance on his first start at Pattern level, he believes the grey can compete in Group races from now on.

“Looking at his handicap mark now, we will be looking at stakes races for him going forward and hopefully he can progress,” Channon said.

“We just hope he’s going to be a Group horse going forward. Unless he has a big run of disappointments, he will be out of the handicaps now.”