One-time Cheltenham Festival favourite Blacko could be dangerous if back to best

dragonbet.co.uk New Online Bookmaker Handicap Hurdle | 2m | 4yo+ | Sky

There's just over £10,000 up for grabs for this handicap, and that's a fair deal more than any of these will have bagged for a while as a feature of the race is the lack of recent winning form.

The early market has and as the pair to beat, but neither has been successful since spring 2021. In the case of the former, his sole success came on his debut in France.

That's a pretty good record compared to their five rivals though, as two haven't won since early 2020, one since 2019 and one has yet to register a success.

Tanganyika was beaten 26 and 57 lengths on his first two outings for Venetia Williams, but was undoubtedly in the process of running a fair bit better until falling two out last month at Uttoxeter.

However, he did look about to be left behind by the front two, and he had a nasty experience with another rival going over the top of him.

Word Has It, whose last success came at odds of 2-11 in a novice hurdle 22 months ago, is a nine-year-old who has clearly had his problems but he did shape well when third at Wetherby on his first run after a wind op last month.

The curious one is , who was once sent off joint-favourite for a race at the Cheltenham Festival.

That was the 2020 Fred Winter and Blacko, who pulled up there and is 0-6 since, is a massive 18lb lower now.

He was beaten a long way on his return from a 631-day absence on his debut for Evan Williams two weeks ago, but raced with plenty of enthusiam and was never likely to last home over 2m4f anyway.

Back at 2m, he could prove a threat to all.
Race analysis by Paul Kealy

What they say

Tommie O’Brien, rider of Allavina
She didn’t really take to fences so we’re sticking to hurdles with her and we’ve had her wind done since she last ran. It’s been a while since she’s hit the target but hopefully she can pick up some prize-money.

Bernard Llewellyn, trainer of Zambezi Fix and Port Or Starboard
Zambezi Fix needed the run at Leicester last time and has come on for that so we're hopeful he can run well and get some of the nice prize-money they're putting on. Port Or Starboard has no weight and hopefully can handle the testing ground as it’s not stopped raining down here.

Evan Williams, trainer of Blacko
He got loose before a race at Cheltenham last year and he’s not been the same horse since. I don’t know what to expect but if he got some prize-money we’d be over the moon.
Reporting by David Milnes

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