Racing returns to Cheltenham Racecourse this week with The Showcase meeting taking centre stage at the home of jump racing.
The Showcase, which is staged on Friday October 25 and Saturday October 26, is a natural starting point for horses returning from their summer breaks and is often used in preparation for The November Meeting, which runs this year from Friday November 15 to Sunday November 17 inclusive.
One horse set to make his return to action at The Showcase is the exciting Al Dancer. Trained locally to Cheltenham by Nigel Twiston-Davies, the six-year-old son of Al Namix won four of his five starts over hurdles last term, which included clear-cut victories at The International in handicap company at Cheltenham in December and the valuable Grade Three Betfair Hurdle at Ascot in February.
Al Dancer, who races in the familiar silks of Dai Walters, was last seen when 10th in the Grade One Sky Bet Supreme Novices' Hurdle The Festival on his final start last term.
He seeks to make a winning debut over fences in the £25,000 squareintheair.com Novices' Chase (2.35) on day one of the Showcase. His rivals could include Unibet Champion Hurdle seventh Global Citizen (Ben Pauling), the Dan Skelton-trained Not That Fuisse and the Paul Nicholls-trained duo of Southfield Stone and Getaway Trump.
Twiston-Davies, who captured the two-mile event with Tramantano in 2007, said: "Al Dancer is in good form and is on course for The Showcase. We were originally going to go to Newton Abbot with him before their meeting was abandoned, but we have been happy with his preparation.
"We are looking forward to getting him started over fences and he has schooled well."
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