IT COULD pay to take a chance on outsider Outset in the £40,000-added Tote Bookmakers Handicap Hurdle at Sandown today. Following a rise in the temperature yesterday prospects for the meeting are good but a precautionary inspection was arranged for 7.30 this morning.
Pharanear, Trainglot and Treasure Again have dominated the ante-post betting but Warm Spell's 20-1 triumph at Kempton a fortnight ago showed the danger of ignoring long-priced contenders for big handicap hurdles.
Although the market leaders are all clearly in form, each is weighted right up to his best whereas Outset may well have been let in lightly - even racing from 2lb out of the handicap.
The six-year-old is well treated on the useful and progressive form he showed in winning three times as a novice in 1993/94.
And he looked as good as ever after a season off when a narrowly-beaten third behind Trainglot at Newcastle last month, beaten just two short heads as lack of peak fitness told against him in the closing stages.
He will he all the better for that outing and Micky Hammond will have him spot on for today's race in which the likely strong pace will bring the gelding's stamina fully into play. Outset is worth backing at long odds, to reward each-way support at the very least.
Elsewhere on a card dominated by Cheltenham Festival trials, Right Win's Champion Hurdle claims may well be shown up in the Agfa Hurdle on ground unlikely to be soft enough for him.
The smart Atours should be good enough to concede him 3lb, judged on his recent good seconds at Sandown and Haydock.
Richard Dunwoody teams up with Champion Hurdle contender Atours for the first time to form a partnership that could remain until the Cheltenham Festival.
He takes over from usual pilot
Paul Holley, who looks set to opt for Oh So Risky as his big race partner, in the Agfa Hurdle.
Trainer David Elsworth is giving Dunwoody a chance to get to know Atours because he could have as many as four runners in the Champion Hurdle, of which Holley will have first choice.
Jibber The Kibber can strengthen his claims to be one of the best young chasers in Britain with victory in the Grade One Scilly Isles Novices' Chase.
Outset's stable-companion Valiant Warrior has a fair chance in Wetherby's feature, the Marston Moor Handicap Chase, after running second to the much-improved Master Boston on both his starts this term.
But he faces no easy task, up against Betterware Cup winner Unguided Missile and Mackeson Gold Cup fourth Gnome's Tycoon.
The last-named is a particularly interesting contender on his return to the track where he scored so impressively on his reappearance in October. He ran a blinder from well out of the handicap in the Mackeson Chase the following month and his record when fresh suggests Gnome's Tycoon is worth backing on his return from a near three-month lay-off.
