Barbers Shop's cut out to win

Hall of fame: Barbers Shop can land the Charlie Hall Chase

13 April 2012

Barbers Shop can end a near two-year stretch without a win by landing the bet365 Charlie Hall Chase at Wetherby tomorrow.

The Queen's runner earned his last victory in an intermediate chase at Sandown in December 2008 and trainer Nicky Henderson admits the ground conditions have not helped his preparation so far this autumn.

He said: "We're still a couple of weeks behind. I haven't been able to get them on the grass until this week. The ground has been so firm and it is not worth risking them."

However, Barbers Shop (3.25pm, nb) schooled brilliantly under champion jockey Tony McCoy on Monday and looks primed to take the highly-competive £100,000 Grade 2 feature in which 17 runners are set to got to post.

Henderson said: "You never know what's going to turn up but it looks an open race and on ratings he comes into the race quite well."

Though short of being top class, the eight-year-old will appreciate the good ground at Wetherby and the 3m 1f trip is likely to suit. "Three miles is fine for him, because he's not a slogger," added Henderson.

His main dangers tomorrow afternoon are last year's winner Deep Purple and the smart pair of Tidal Bay and Carruthers.

Newmarket's Ben Marshall Stakes revolves around the Godolphin trio of Alexandros, Secrecy and Kingsfort and while Frankie Dettori has opted to ride Alexandros, he is equipped with a visor for the first time after 27 career starts, which means he may not quite be in love with the game any more.

Preference is for Kingsfort (2.35pm), who was undefeated in two runs as a two-year-old and was bought by Godolphin after winning the Group 1 National Stakes last September.

He missed the 2,000 Guineas after suffering an ankle injury but acquitted himself well enough on his comeback at Redcar on 2 October to prove he retains plenty of ability.

OTHER C4 TV TIPS:

Newmarket: 2.00 Sand Skier, 3.10 Elas Diamond (nap)

Barbers Shop's cut out to win

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