'He's dropped to a low mark' - cross-country chaser Back On The Lash seeking confidence boost as he reverts to hurdles

Two-time Cheltenham cross-country course winner Back On The Lash takes a big drop in class on his first hurdles start since September 2022.

Back On The Lash produced a fine second at Worcester that day and is dangerously handicapped off a 9lb lower mark, albeit he hasn’t shown much in his last five runs. 

This is a retrieval mission for the ten-year-old against a couple of interesting up-and-comers. Mole Court has been placed to excellent effect by Ben Pauling to capture six of his 12 starts in handicaps. However, five of those successes came in handicap chases. The seven-year-old is one from five in handicap hurdles, and returned a well-beaten favourite off 24lb lower on his previous start in this sphere 13 months ago.

If Mole Court cannot translate his recent chasing improvement to hurdles then Planet Legend rates the clear pick. 

A useful maiden on the Flat for James Ferguson, Planet Legend consistently ran to Racing Post Ratings of 80 in that discipline and is unlikely to have realised his full potential over hurdles for Richard Newland and Jamie Insole.

A 3lb rise for his neck second at Ludlow last month following a three-month break is workable, and he is unexposed as a staying hurdler. He holds the reopposing Ubetya on that form. 

Nigel Twiston-Davies’s front-runner Ballintubber Boy represents a threat to all if granted a soft lead on his comeback, although this inconsistent type hardly gives the impression he has much in hand off his rating.
Race analysis by Robbie Wilders

Ground and weather

Clerk of the course Roderick Duncan is pleased with conditions at the track and said watering is taking place in order to keep on top of the good ground.

Between Thursday and Sunday, a total of 55mm of water was applied to the whole course, which remained free from rain over the weekend. 

Duncan said: "We're watering good ground and trying to maintain that. We have a dry forecast, and there is a remote chance we may get showers during racing."

What they say

Martin Keighley, trainer of Back On The Lash
He's having a confidence booster over hurdles as he seems to have lost his way ever since he ran in the National. He'll love the good ground and he's dropped to a low mark, so he should hopefully run a solid race. A lot of his disappointing runs have been because the ground has been too soft.

Ben Case, trainer of Midnightreflection
She's in good form. She ran a fair race at Chepstow last time after a little break and wasn't beaten too far. She's won round here before and should run well.

Ben Pauling, trainer of Mole Court
He's in good order. He's being aimed at the Summer Cup, so I didn't want him going up again in the handicap if he won another chase and we thought we'd give him a spin over hurdles for his preparation. He's not as good a hurdler as he is a chaser, but he's progressed over fences in the last year and hopefully he can run okay.

Jedd O'Keeffe, trainer of Ubetya
We're happy with the ground. I was pleased with his run last time and we've switched back to hurdles because he seemed to lose confidence over fences. We hope to return to them one day, but it'd be nice to win over hurdles first. He showed promise last time and could improve on that.

Kielan Woods, rider of Petrastar
I think he'll run all right. He had a bad fall over fences last time, which is why he's back over hurdles. He won a novice hurdle at Huntingdon and looked like he was going to win over fences there one day as well before having a spill at the last. He obviously likes the track and he's in good form.
Reporting by Liam Headd

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