Will Caid du Lin retain his crown? A recent spin around Aintree may be a pointer

1.55 Ludlow
Tanners Champagne Handicap Chase (Class 2) | 2m | 4yo+ | RTV

Plenty believe in 'Groundhog Day' when it comes to finding winners. Whether a trainer won the race last year or a horse is returning to attempt back-to-back successes, plenty of weight is given to recent scorers and their ability to repeat the feat.

The success of following those angles is debatable, though they certainly don't just occur once in a blue moon. The latest runner to attempt to justify the common betting angle is Caid du Lin, who made every yard in this 2m chase last year under Sam Twiston-Davies off top weight and is back to do it all over again.

Last year's strike, which followed a pulled-up effort at Ascot, was reportedly as a result of more prominent tactics. Given he is back down to 2lb lower than that success and gets ideal conditions once again, he will probably set his stall out early.

The main question mark is his jumping as he has been prone to an error or two and can need plenty of coaxing. However, a recent spin around the National fences in the Grand Sefton could have fixed that problem.

Caid du Lin was slow over the first few fences but you could see his confidence grow midway through the race and although he was beaten 80 lengths, that was more down to a lack of stamina than anything else.

Following that experience, the gallant grey is expected to produce a clean round, though he will probably need to if he is to fend off the unexposed Eritage and class-dropping mare Litterale Ci.

The first-named has improved since undergoing a wind operation in the summer and rates the main threat. His one downside is that he can be keen throughout the early part of his races.

Race analysis by Tom Collins

What they say

Richard Newland, trainer of Caid du Lin
We won the race with him last year so it made sense to come here again. He's quite high in the handicap still so it doesn't get any easier, but I'm hoping he enjoys going back to Ludlow. He didn't have a particularly hard race at Aintree last time and he was fresh going into it so it made sense to come here.

Paul Nicholls, trainer of Eritage
He's ran two super races so far this term, one of them at Ludlow and then he got beat by a good mare at Newbury. We were considering upping him in trip, but we think two miles around Ludlow on soft ground should suit him nicely.

Harry Fry, trainer of Litterale Ci
She was outclassed the last day at Newton Abbot in an intermediate chase. She's back in handicap company now but she's shown before that she isn’t too well handicapped off her current mark. She's won at Ludlow over this trip before, though, so we'll see how she gets on.

Victor Dartnall, trainer of Admiral's Secret
It looks a very competitive contest but he's in great form. He'll be better over a little bit further and I suspect they'll be going a right gallop round there. I didn't want to start him off for the season at the longer trip so this might be a bit on the short side for him.

Reporting by Sam Hendry

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