Southfield set for a victory at Kempton

Conditions have dried up just in time for Southfield Stone in the Close Brothers Handicap Chase at Kempton on Saturday.

Trained by Paul Nicholls, the eight-year-old certainly has more to offer over fences than we have had chance to see to date.

He simply must have good ground to be seen at his best, as he showed when beating the talented Angels Breath in the Dovecote Novices’ Hurdle at this meeting two years ago.

Flat tracks definitely suit him best too, which was why, despite winning that Grade Two, Nicholls did not even send him to Cheltenham that year, instead waiting for Aintree where soft ground scuppered him.

As he did not win his first novice chase until February last season having had the misfortune of bumping into some smart recruits, he was still eligible for a novice in Oc- tober, when he beat the subsequent Paddy Power Gold Cup winner Coole Cody.

He has subsequently been put in his place by Protektorat, although there was no disgrace in that considering he was giving him weight, and then bogged down in the Caspian Caviar Gold Cup won by Chatham Street Lad.

That run though, along with his effort in Grade One company at Aintree, are the only times he has been out of the frame in 17 starts and his consistency must be admired. It is not hard to make a case for him as he is trained by a master, has his ground, loves the track and arrives having won a jumpers’ bumper most recently, beating the smart Did they leaveuoutto.

Nicholls could also be on the mark with Atholl Street in the Sky Bet Dovecote Novices’ Hurdle.

The six-year-old appears a chaser of the future, and the fact he is owned by Trevor Hemmings suggests that is what he was bought for, but he has looked very good over the smaller obstacles too.

Both wins have come at Taunton and while he had a subsequent winner back in fourth the first time, it was the way he won under a penalty that suggested he was way above average. That form is nothing to write home about, but we will get to see what he is made of here. Alan King’s Tritonic should book his place in the Triumph Hurdle with a victory in the Close Brothers Adonis Juvenile Hurdle. A smart performer on the level, he was made to work hard to win on his hurdling debut at Ascot but, if anything, that just showed him in a better light. The ground was softer than he likes and the runnerup was gifted a big early lead, but Tritonic dug deep to win. He may end up being the leading British four-year-old after this.

Ga Law looks the one to be on in the Close Brothers Pendil Novices’ Chase.