Taking its name from the Royal residence on The Mall in the City of Westminster, the Clarence House Chase in a Grade 1 steeplechase run over 2 miles, 1 furlong and 167 yards at Ascot. Officially, the race was inaugurated, as a handicap sponsored by Victor Chandler – and hence known as the Victor Chandler Handicap Chase – in 1987, but the first two runnings were abandoned due to adverse weather conditions. Thus, the first winner was the 10-year-old Desert Orchid who, in 1989, successfully conceded 22lb to Panto Prince, albeit by just a head, in one of the most memorable steeplechases ever seen at Ascot.

In 2007, the Clarence House Chase was awarded Grade 1 status by the Jump Pattern Committee and ceased to be a handicap, but was abandoned again due to waterlogging. Having been run at Cheltenham in 2005 and at Sandown Park in 2006, during the redevelopment of Ascot, the race returned to the Berkshire course in 2008. At that point the distance was extended from the original 2 miles.

Nowadays, the Clarence House Chase is, unsurprisingly, considered a trial for the Queen Mother Champion Chase at the Cheltenham Festival. All told, seven horses have won both races in the same season, including such luminaries of the two-mile steeplechasing division as Master Minded (2009), Sprinter Sacre (2013) and Altior (2019).

At this still early stage, with the exception of the Cheltenham Festival and, of course, the Grand National, bookmakers tend not to look far beyond the turn of the new year with their ante-post lists. However, they have priced up the Tingle Creek Chase – a similar race to the Clarence House Chase, run at Sandown Park in early December – and installed reigning Champion Chaser Energumene and Shiskin, who beat him in this race, before flopping badly at Cheltenham, as the market leaders.

At the end of the 2020 Flat season, Magical was the joint-seventh highest rated older horse in training in Europe, according to Timeform. The fact that she was ‘in training’, at all, in 2020 came as a slight surprise, granted that she was originally retired in November, 2019, having been ruled out of the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf at Santa Anita Park, California with an elevated temperature.

However, owners John Magnier, Michael Tabor and Derrick Smith had a change of heart and, in the spring of 2020, the Galileo mare – already the winner of nine of her 21 races, including four at Group One level – returned to training with Aidan O’Brien. Magical did not make her five-year-old debut until late June, but made an immediate impact, with comfortable wins in the Pretty Polly Stakes and the Tattersalls Gold Cup, both Group One contests, at the Curragh. In August, she proved no match for Ghaiyyath in the Juddmonte International Stakes at York, but reversed that form in the Irish Champion Stakes at the Curragh the following month to record her third Group One win of the season and her seventh in all.

Magical subsequently failed, albeit not by far, to win the Champion Stakes at Ascot for the second year running and, despite starting favourite, could finish only second in the Breeders’ Cup Turf at Keeneland, Kentucky. Nevertheless, at the time of writing, she still has one last chance to end her career on a high note, in the Group One Hong Kong Cup at Sha Tin in December, 2020, for which she is currently top-priced 11/4 favourite ante post.

Microgaming’s online slot, Halloween, is a video slot with five reels in 4 rows with 50 pay lines. It is based on the horror movie of the same name, which was first released in 1987. The vibe created on this video slot has all the characteristics of the film, so thrill seekers will not be disappointed. They will also see Lynda, Annie, Loomis and Laurie to complete their experience.

Halloween Slot – Wandering Reels

This is an exciting feature as the wandering reels feature makes any three sets of reels stick together. Furthermore, the Wandering Reels convert to large-sized symbols and cover all three positions simultaneously.

Trick or Treat Wheel

The Trick or Treat wheel will come into play when you spin at least 3 Scatters anywhere on the reels. Keep spinning the wheel for cash rewards. Should you spin onto any of the main characters, then your game ends.

If the wheel lands on the Bogeyman then you can play the Bogeyman Bonus.

The Bogeyman Bonus

In this game, you have to select from a bunch of leaves and if you make a good selection, not only will you get a cash reward but a multiplier too. An additional bonus is that each time you win the multiplier increases by 1 and should you go all the way with 10 wins you earn a further cash prize x20 of your stake.

Very appealing but do not pick a leaf revealing Michael, as your game will end. 9 Free Spins are allocated should the wheel land on any other main character. You will notice that the character will appear more frequently than usual for a better win potential.

The betting range can go up to 200, but as the game allows for different currencies that will determine the betting range. Halloween is an appealing and exciting slot and well worth a try!!