888Sport Download The App Handicap Hurdle

Off time: 16:40 | Winning time: 3m 57.8s

Zig Zag^p⁷

Age: 6| Weight: 11-12| J: Thomas Dowson⁽³⁾| T: P A Kirby| OR: 120| BF

9/4

Beaten 11L (fourth) at Newcastle last Saturday (2m, good to soft). However, that was in a stronger race (Class 2) than today's (Class 4) and he's just 2lb above his last winning mark; wouldn't be seeking too much overnight rain; chance.

Form: 2-36414

Empire De Maulde⁴⁶

Age: 5| Weight: 11-8| J: Steven Fox⁽⁵⁾| T: J Ewart| OR: 116

11/4

4-6 in French bumpers (1m1f-1m4f) prior to joining James Ewart; brought along steadily over hurdles and reaped the rewards when demolishing his rivals at Newcastle (2m, good to soft) 46-days ago; 11lb higher in handicap company proper.

Form: 144-371

Criq Sun⁶³

Age: 7| Weight: 11-7| J: Alan Johns| T: Tim Vaughan| OR: 115

5/2

Far from fluent, but off the mark at the fourth attempt over hurdles at Limerick (2m3f, soft) in December; has left the care of Lorna Fowler since; the market could hold the relevant clues from a reasonable looking handicap mark (of 115).

Form: 098371

Lazarus^t¹¹

Age: 5| Weight: 11-6| J: Rex Dingle⁽⁵⁾| T: Miss A Murphy| OR: 114

8/1

Kept busy on the AW in the early months of 2019 (only modest form); difficult to imagine that he's capable of being competitive in handicap company off a mark of 114 given that his peak early season efforts were in sellers and claimers.

Form: 5-U4126

The Herds Garden^p⁴⁸

Age: 10| Weight: 11-4| J: Abbie McCain⁽⁷⁾| T: D McCain Jnr| OR: 112

16/1

Mixes hurdling with chasing, and whilst it's fair to say that he's difficult to win with period, he did so off a 7lb lower mark at Catterick (2m, good) on New Years Day; stable a watching brief only post equine influenza.

Form: 6-F4213

Collodi¹³

Age: 10| Weight: 10-8| J: S Bowen| T: C R Dore| OR: 102| D

10/1

Struggling since making all to land a Fakenham seller (2m, good) by 22L in October; look elsewhere with confidence.

Form: 57853P

Non-Runners

Legal History¹

Weight: 10-3| Age: 4

T: D Pipe J: Non Runner

Forecasts

Zig Zag (9/4), Legal History (9/4), Criq Sun (5/2), Empire De Maulde (11/4), Lazarus (8/1), Collodi (10/1), The Herds Garden (16/1)

A race which is muddied by the fact that Legal History competed here on Friday (finished second). Criq Sun would be relatively interesting on debut for Tim Vaughan assuming that he's able to handle faster conditions, whilst Empire De Maulde has been clobbered by the handicapper for his Newcastle romp. Therefore, on the proviso that the rain stays away, the current vote goes to the top-weight ZIG ZAG. Despite being beaten off this mark at Newcastle last Saturday that fourth-placed effort came in a more competitive race than today's (the winner reportedly has a tilt at the Cheltenham Festival on the agenda).