Shoreacres aimed at Lanzarote Hurdle

BRENDAN Powell feels Shoreacres can make his presence felt in the William Hill Lanzarote Hurdle at Kempton on Saturday.

The nine-year-old showed some high-class form as a bumper horse and novice hurdler, but had lost his way over fences at the end of last season and the start of the current campaign. However, switched back to the smaller obstacles, the gelding ran a blinder to finish second at Ascot and he followed that up by filling the runner-up spot again at Wincanton on Boxing Day. “He’d be a likely runner on Saturday if all goes well this week and I’m looking forward to it,” said Powell. “It would be nice to get his head in front again and I know it’s going to be a competitive race on Saturday, but I think he’s good enough to run very well.”

A total of 35 entries have been received for the two-mile-five-furlong contest, with classy mare Alasi an interesting contender for Paul Webber. Nicholls has American Trilogy and Domtaline entered, while other possibles include the Philip Hobbs-trained Featherbed Lane, Colin Tizzard’s Ohio Gold and Tim Vaughan’s Grade One winner Spirit Of Adjisa.

Meanwhile, Grand National hope Neptune Equester could run in the Betfred Classic Chase at Warwick on Saturday. The nine-year-old showed he has stamina in abundance when winning at Haydock on his penultimate start and he was not disgraced when fifth in the Rowland Meyrick Chase at Wetherby on Boxing Day. Ellison is keen for his charge to increase his rating to enhance his chances of getting a run in the Grand National at Aintree and a good showing at Warwick would aid his cause.