Frost and Bowen swap venues as Lanzarote and Classic Chase take centre stage

In A Nutshell

There's no Ant – or even Dec – but ITV4 offers viewers an out-of-season version of Britain's Got Talent on Saturday afternoon.

Time and again, this weekend has offered a showcase for future stars to shine, a springboard to a career at the top – think more Susan Boyle than Paul Potts.

It was in the Lanzarote Hurdle 23 years ago that a certain AP McCoy rode his first big outside winner on 20-1 shot Warm Spell, the same afternoon that 7lb claimer Jim Culloty first grabbed the spotlight by landing the then Warwick National on Full Of Oats.

Robbie Dunne and Lizzie Kelly are among the familiar names to have won the Lanzarote or Warwick contest as fledglings in the years since.

And youth certainly had its fling 12 months ago as Bryony Frost, then 22, triumphed at Warwick on Milansbar in a race now known as the Classic Chase, while James Bowen, 16, took the Lanzarote on William Henry.

Still mere striplings a year on, the pair have swapped venues, with Frost at Kempton to ride Black Corton in the 32Red Casino Case and Bowen on board Calett Mad in the Classic.

William Henry was one of four winners on this day last year for Nicky Henderson, who had even bigger things to celebrate as he was away in Scotland getting married.

The first wedding anniversary is apparently the 'paper' version and the champion trainer should earn enough to splash out on a ream or two of A4 with progressive young hurdlers Chaparral Prince and Lomachenko plus high-class chaser Top Notch in action at Kempton and promising novice Ok Corral heading to Warwick.

Duel in the crown

3.00 Warwick

Readers of the Racing & Football Outlook have only themselves to blame if they are not on ante-post steamer Duel At Dawn at a fancy price for the McCoy Contractors Civil Engineering Classic Handicap Chase at Warwick.

"This is his chance to prove me right" said our sister paper's trainer-columnist Alex Hales, who could not disguise his keenness on the chaser who he has been itching to step back up in trip.

Alex Hales told Racing & Football Outlook readers all about Duel At DawnCredit: David Carr

He was 16-1 in a place when those words were published on Tuesday but you'll not get half those odds now about a nine-year-old who was a good second to Ms Parfois in the Listed novice chase on this card 12 months ago.

Of course, beating the odds is no guarantee of beating the rest of the field in a £75,000 contest which One For Arthur took on the way to Grand National glory two years ago.

Last month's Mandarin Chase winner Carole's Destrier is among those who could follow the same path, along with Milansbar, who took this prize last year and went on to be the first British horse home in the Aintree showpiece.

Who will be the record-breaker?

2.40 Kempton

Someone appears likely to make history as the usual suspects take aim at the Unibet Lanzarote Handicap Hurdle at Kempton.

Since this race was first run in 1978, as a tribute to the former Champion Hurdle winner who was killed in the previous year's Cheltenham Gold Cup, three yards have won it three times – and each has decent claims of making it four.

Some punters clearly reckon the man to do it will be Gary Moore, whose impressive Doncaster winner Kloud Gate had been backed from 8-1 on Monday into half those odds.

But Ascot winner Darling Maltaix has been a popular choice to land the prize once again for Paul Nicholls, and there's been support for Doux Pretender, who bids to make it four for Nicky Henderson.

Countdown to another winner for Bailey

2.05 Kempton

Kim Bailey put himself on the celebrity pages recently by landing a Ludlow bumper with Subway Surf for a partnership that includes Carol Vorderman and Richard Hammond.

But it is his horses that have been the real stars of a fine season – and he may need Ms Vorderman's renowned knack with numbers to check the yard's percentage on a potentially lucrative afternoon.

Charbel has strong claims in the £40,000 32Red Casino Chase (2.05) at Kempton, having looked better than ever since having an operation on his back in the summer.

Watch Charbel win the Peterborough Chase

He was already pretty smart, but he has stepped up to another level this term and was a commanding winner of the Grade 2 Peterborough Chase at Huntingdon last month.

Further success here would set him up for the Ryanair Chase at Cheltenham, while the RSA Chase beckons for stablemate Rocky's Treasure.

He was another Grade 2 winner last month, bounding up at Doncaster, and looks the one to beat in the Listed McCoy Contractors 2019 Construction News Award Finalist Hampton Novices' Chase (1.50) at Warwick.

A rare bit of winter watering

In the depths of winter the essential apparatus for a clerk of the course is usually an icepick or a snorkel, but this season heavy downpours and hard frosts have been in mercifully short supply.

The upshot of this has been unseasonably quick jumping ground, to the point that Kempton clerk Barney Clifford decided to water the chase course on Thursday after no rain fell between the end of December's Christmas festival meeting on the 27th and Saturday's fixture.

"I was apprehensive about it all week," Clifford said on Friday. "We put down five millimetres from the start of the back straight right round to the last fence and it's amazing the difference it has made. It worked really well and I'm pleased we did it."

Clifford has been in the job for 20 years and, while rare, watering in winter is not without precedent, as he added: "We watered in the first week of December in 2002 prior to Henrietta Knight and Terry Biddlecombe walking Kempton before Best Mate won the King George."

A million reasons to play the Scoop6

Who wants to be a millionaire? A successful Scoop6 punter could be by the end of Saturday afternoon, thanks to a huge rollover.

The bet was not won last week and the win fund stands at £1,005,633, with the bonus pool £700,180. They are expected to reach a combined £2.5 million on Saturday.

It won't be easy to win the money as you will need to find the winner of the Lanzarote Hurdle at Kempton, the Classic Chase plus two other races at Warwick, the feature Dan Moore Memorial Handicap Chase at Fairyhouse and the closing 0-55 handicap at Lingfield.

Totepool spokesman Matt Hulmes said: “It’s another weekend of life-changing sums in the Scoop6 with an estimated £2.5m in combined funds to take aim at.

"Lanzarote may be a popular destination for anyone who solves the race of that name and the other five legs on Saturday afternoon as the bet once again offers millionaire maker status.”

Scoop6 races 12.40 Warwick, 2.10 Fairyhouse, 2.40 Kempton, 3.00 Warwick, 3.35 Warwick. 3.40 Lingfield

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