Wentworth hoping to tee up Lingfield bid

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Wentworth Falls sets out on a path that could yet lead to All-Weather Finals day at Lingfield in this £11,500 feature which has attracted eight runners.

The topweight was under consideration for the Good Friday finale two years ago when with Godolphin until his form tailed off, following which he was sold to trainer Geoff Harker for just 5,500gns at the horses-in-training sales last autumn.

The five-year-old wasted little time in repaying that when scoring on just his second start for new connections at Nottingham in November, and has been put away for this since.

Lady Nayef (third), Dungannon (fourth) and Orient Class (ninth) reoppose after taking each other on at the track 11 days ago in a race won by Sir Billy Wright.

Wonder of Winston

Robert Winston takes his first ride of the year for the John Butler stable on Lady Nayef. Winston posted a 50 per cent strike-rate for the yard in 2016.

Five Course

Five of the eight runners are previous winners over course and distance. The three that are not are Wentworth Falls, Orient Class and Escalating.

What they say

Geoff Harker, trainer of Wentworth Falls
We've had the All-Weather Final in mind for him ever since he won at Nottingham in November but he needs three runs to qualify. He won on the all-weather for Godolphin and should enjoy it, and he's done well over winter.

Andrew Balding, trainer of Dungannon
He's been a grand old servant and likes it at Southwell so hopefully he can go well again and get some nice prize-money.

Derek Shaw, trainer of Captain Lars
It was probably one race too many for him after a busy period last time and we've freshened him up since. He's in fantastic shape at home just now and if you forget that run, he must have a good chance.

Mick Appleby, trainer of Escalating
It's his first run since we had him gelded and he'll probably come on for it. We felt that he hadn't been finishing off his races very well just lately so we'll see if this helps.

David Griffiths, trainer of Archimedes
He won really well there the time before last but I don't know what went wrong last time, maybe he got squeezed out at the start. He's potentially very good off his homework and we have changed the headgear.