Horse Racing: Tarotino can support King

ALAN KING suffered plenty of bad luck in the first half of the season but he appears to have turned the corner, and Tarotino can continue the resurgence on Saturday.

A chaser of some potential, he looks to have crept under the radar ahead of the valuable Blue Square Handicap Chase at Doncaster.

Now an eight-year-old, he rattled off a hat-trick last spring and shot up the handicap as a result. That did not seem to bother his connections, though, as it meant he was guaranteed a run in the valuable races, with his primary assignment being the Paddy Power Gold Cup.

However, one thing this horse must have is a decent surface, and King's reservations that the going at Cheltenham in November would not be ideal came true.

Robert Thornton looked after him, though, and pulled him up pretty swiftly so he did not have a bad experience.

He has since been kept fresh, without a run when the stable was going through a difficult patch. With King again banging in the winners, this assured jumper can finally prove his worth.

Henrietta Knight's Somersby can advertise his Arkle claims by maintaining his unbeaten record over fences in the rearranged Blue Square Lightning Novices' Chase.

Saved from last week's abandoned card, the Grade Two race has benefited from the re-routing of this exciting prospect, who had no trouble in putting Crack Away Jack in his place at Sandown.

There is Grade One action at Sandown, where Nick Henderson's Punchestowns looks unopposable in the toteswingers Challengers Novices' Chase (Registered as the Scilly Isles).

Second in the World Hurdle to Big Buck's last March, he looks likely to be even better over fences and could go right to the very top.

The weather has prevented him from adding to his sole start over fences at Newbury but he jumped well enough when he warmed to the task.

One horse who may give Punchestowns something to think about at Cheltenham in the RSA Chase is Ian Williams' Weird Al, who looks a warm order for the totesport.com Towton Novices' Chase at Wetherby. Very lightly raced for a seven-year-old, he has won both his starts over fences to date at Cheltenham.

Mark Johnston has continued his remarkable rate of winners throughout the winter months and he runs an intriguing contender in the Golf & Racing Handicap at Southwell.

King's Salute has only seen the racecourse on three occasions and the first of those came for Andre Fabre in France.

He has won both starts with the minimum of fuss for the Middleham master and it would be no surprise if he proved a good deal better than his current mark of 87.