Murphy hopeful Mercian can prove a prince for the day

Winners Are Welcome At Matchbook Silver Bowl Handicap Chase (Grade 2)| 2m4f110y | 4yo | ITV4/RUK

Mercian Prince failed to cope with heavy ground at Leicester last time, having been in the process of running well at Cheltenham in January before coming down three out in an incident-packed race won by Royal Vacation.

He features among seven runners for this £40,000 handicap, the highlight of Kempton's ITV4-televised card, and connections are hoping for better fortune.

"He was cantering two out at Leicester and just fell in a hole, so Jack [Quinlan] said we should put it down to the ground," said trainer Amy Murphy.

"He's in form and although this is competitive he's going there in good shape and we're looking forward to it."

Tom George's horses have run well all week at Cheltenham and Max Ward put in a brave effort when second, just failing to give 9lb to Theatre Flame, at Newbury in January.

George said: "We've been waiting for a bit of better ground and he should appreciate conditions here. He's fresh and well and this is a nice race to go for."

'I'm very hopeful'

Ballybolley was another to put up a good performance under a big weight when third to Gold Opera at Newcastle, having been tried at three miles here on Boxing Day.

"He ran really well at Newcastle last time when it was soft and I'm very hopeful," said trainer Nigel Twiston-Davies.

Last season's Fred Winter runner-up Romain De Senam was around an 8-1 chance for the Close Brothers Novices' Handicap Chase on day one of the festival but opened on Friday for this race at only half those odds, illustrating just how tight a handicap this is.

Most of Romain De Senam's chase form is around a more testing layout than Kempton, which may help his cause having never tackled this trip. He was denied a run at Cheltenham on Tuesday after being eliminated.

Victory Note represents the predominantly Flat yard of James Eustace, who nonetheless boasts a 16 per cent strike-rate this jumps season.