Darlan Newbury run in doubt after mark drops

A FRUSTRATED Nicky Henderson said on Sunday that the appearance of second favourite Darlan in Saturday week's Betfair Hurdle was under review after a BHA handicapper reassessed the merit of the unbeaten novice's win at Taunton this month.

Darlan would have been required to compete off a mark of 146 at Newbury, but the handicapper has downgraded the value of his recent win over Jump City and for future races lowered the JP McManus-owned five-year-old to 143.

Henderson said on Sunday: "When Darlan was raised 9lb I knew that it was far too much and I told the handicapper he'd overrated Jump City. The evidence clearly underlines that but Darlan would now run at Newbury off a rating 3lb too high."

The trainer added: "It's seriously annoying and the sequence of events means the handicapper is more or less inviting us not to run on Saturday week. We'll discuss it and see how the horse is nearer the time, but this certainly isn't an encouragement to run."

Darlan, second favourite to Zarkandar at odds ranging from 5-1 to 8-1, was bought by McManus in the summer. McManus won the Newbury race in 2010 with unbeaten novice Get Me Out Of Here, who had a rating of 135.

Henderson's team for the race is likely to include Soldatino, a top priced 12-1 and Ericht (25-1).