GOOD BOY BOBBY can set himself up for a tilt at the Grand National with a win in the Coral Trophy Handicap Chase (3.37) at Kempton Park.
With an £85,425 first prize on offer from the new sponsor, the three-mile contest is worth winning in its own right.
And lightly-raced nine-year-old Good Boy Bobby comes into the race with a going-places profile en route to Aintree on April 9.
The son of Flemensfirth marked his first start of the winter with a victory at Wetherby in October, before a head defeat at the hands of the admiral Aye Right when stepping up to three miles for Newcastle’s Rehearsal Chase the following month.
Good Boy Bobby showed true grit under the trainer's son Sam with an all-the-way length-and-three-quarters score from Lord Du Mesnil in the Rowland Meyrick Handicap Chase back at Wetherby on Boxing Day.
A 4lb rise in the handicap should not stop another good account here.
HISTORY OF FASHION deserves to be all the rage in the Vertem Eider Handicap Chase (3.15) at Newcastle.
The Pat Fahy-trained eight-year-old comes into the stamina test with just four chase starts under his belt - but the flip side of a relative lack of experience is the scope for further progress.
History Of Fashion finished behind Willie Mullins’ pair Blue Lord at Fairyhouse and Stratum at Thurles in December, before unseating two out at the former track on New Year’s Day as victory went to another Closutton inmate, Jungle Boogie.
But my selection took a giant leap forward when making his handicap chase debut at Down Royal at the end of last month, coming home eight lengths to the good of Dubai Devils.
His supremacy would have been more emphatic but for clouting the third-last fence and Richard Condon’s mount 11lb higher in the weights here, rates a worthy favourite to remain unbeaten in this sphere.
At Kempton Park, KNIGHT SALUTE is expected to remain unbeaten by lifting the Grade 2 Coral Adonis Juvenile Hurdle (1.50).
Knight Salute beat Porticello by three-quarters of a length on Town Moor two weeks before Christmas, and the runner-up has advertised the form with two wins since, including at the highest level.
Porticello’s trainer Gary Moore has a strong candidate for the Grade 2 Sky Bet Dovecote Novices’ Hurdle in the shape of SHALLWEHAVEONEMORE.
The son of Authorized ran below market expectations when fourth to Constitution Hill in Sandown Park’s Grade 1 Tolworth Hurdle but registered a handsome 20-length margin there last time – and there is plenty to come.
She needs a personal best to show the boys the way home in the Grade 2 Coral Pendil Novices’ Chase (2.25), but FANTASTIC LADY can prove up to the job.
Nicky Henderson’s mare has taken her form to a new level with handicap chase victories at Warwick and Bangor on her last two outings.
The 7lb and more she receives from her opposition tilts the scales in her favour.
Kempton’s action opens with the Coral ‘Fail-To-Finish’ Free Bets Handicap Chase (1.15), where LE CAMELEON should not be underestimated.
Official ratings and the market agrees that LORD NORTH will be hard to beat in the Group 3 Betway Winter Derby (2.05) at Lingfield Park.
The six-year-old missed the domestic campaign after landing the Group 1 Dubai Turf at Meydan last March.
His absence absolves the John and Thady Gosden trainee from the obligation of shouldering a penalty.
Earlier on the Lingfield card, EXALTED ANGEL is a big player granted clear water – denied him behind stablemate Spycatcher over course and distance three weeks ago – in the Listed Betway Hever Sprint Stakes (2.05).
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