Daily Mail

Job’s worth the gamble

SCUDAMORE EYES GRADE ONE PRIZE

- By MARCUS TOWNEND

TRAINER Michael Scudamore says Do Your Job represents his first genuine chance to land a Grade One prize when he lines up in the Unibet Tolworth Novices’ Hurdle at Sandown.

The six-year- old suffered his first defeat of the season at Haydock last time at the hands of Llandinabo Lad, but Do Your Job’s jockey Brendan Powell and Harry Skelton on third-placed Flic Ou Voyou looked to get racing hard too early and Do Your Job, having taken control, paid the price.

Scudamore (right) said: ‘We were a little bit disappoint­ed after the race and to be fair to Brendan he held his hands up and said they’d got racing halfway down the back straight. We looked to have everything beaten two out and then ran out of petrol and were outstayed.

‘We don’t believe we gave our true running that day and came away thinking perhaps with different tactics we might see a better horse.

‘We have had a good season so far with Kingswell Theatre winning the Cross Country at Cheltenham in November and Nada to Prada winning the Listed mares novices’ hurdle last month. But everyone wants the big ones and this is probably the first time we have been in a Grade One with a genuine chance.’

Scudamore’s biggest wins in his 13- season training career have been

Monbeg Dude in the Welsh National and Next Sensation, who won the Grand Annual Chase at the Cheltenham Festival. Do Your Job started the season with novice hurdle wins at Ffos Las and Ayr. At the latter he gave weight and a beating to Dan Skelton-trained runner-up Cadzand, who has won both his races since including a handicap at Kempton in December. Third-placed Wetlands subsequent­ly won back at Ayr and is odds- on favourite to double his tally at the track today. Do Your Job cost £150,000 and is one of a clutch of good horses now in the stable owned by Mark Dunphy. Scudamore added: ‘ He’s the most expensive horse I have trained by a long way. Mark wanted to buy a nice horse and gave himself a chance by spending that amount of money. Hopefully he can continue to justify his price tag.’ Do Your Job is a 6-1 shot for the Tolworth. The 5-4 favourite is Harry Fry-trained Metier, an impressive fivelength winner from Tile Tapper, one of his rivals again, at Ascot in November. lDUAL Cheltenham Gold Cup winner Al Boum Photo has had his odds to make it three wins at Cheltenham in March trimmed to 100-30 by Ladbrokes after a 19-length comeback victory in the Savills New Year’s Day Chase at Tramore.

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