Tooka and Barton Cliché to collide in the Ladbrokes.Com Handicap Chase at Towcester on 26th March
The Class 4 Ladbrokes.Com Handicap Chase is to be staged at Towcester over two miles and 110 yards on Monday, 26th March. The race has assembled a lineup of five runners, each five-year and older for the purse that is set for £2, 599.
One of the most remarkable entries from among the contenders is Tooka, Sure Blade’s eleven-year-old bay gelding out of mare Parsons’ Lass. He claimed the title last year and is in again for defending it this time around.
Tooka won the Haygain Hay Steamers Handicap Chase on 28th March 2011 at Towcester over two miles and half furlong.
Paired up with Matt Griffiths, Tooka led the field of five by 1 ¼ lengths and had Digital Media following in the tracks. The winner and the runner up of the race cornered the 9/4 favourite of the race, Autumm Spirit, to the third slot.
This was the only race that Tooka took part in through the entire 2011 season. He will be racing after a year’s rest and can be a pleasant surprise specially when he is aiming at a race that he has bagged previously.
Besides that Tooka is in for his seasonal debut and it will be expected from him to maintain standards with what he accomplished last year.
A potential threat for the well rested and accomplished Tooka is the seven-year-old Barton Cliche, Classic Cliché’s bay gelding out of mare Barton Dante. Not that he has struck victory but he does enjoy the credit of scoring second in his seasonal debut.
On 12th March, Barton Cliché came second in the Plumpton Annual Members Handicap Chase at Plumpton over two miles and a furlong. Riding with Dougie Costello, Barton Cliché stationed right behind the winner, Nozic, after striding through the seven
lengths by which he missed the wire and the victory.
The edge that Barton Cliché enjoys is the distance over which he has raced recently coupled with on hand racing experience just within the same month while Tooka has been inactive since a year now.
Both the contenders have their own strengths and have fairly equal chances of making it through the wire only after winning a close battle.
The views expressed in this article are the writer's own and in no way represent Bettor.com's official editorial policy.
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