Outlaw unlikely to be caught in Ayr race

Outlaw Peter can defy a 5lb rise up the ratings to take the Hillhouse Quarry Handicap Chase at Ayr for Paul Nicholls tomorrow.

The eight-year-old gelding won on his chasing debut by beating Walk In Clover in a match race at Newton Abbott in September, when sent off a short-priced favourite.

He was stepped up in trip to three miles on his next outing but disappointed and was pulled up by Harry Cobden, but gave a far better account of himself when dropped back to a more favourable two and a half miles.

Following a 61-day break, he was narrowly beaten into second at Kempton on Boxing Day and then was placed again at Musselburgh in February before returning to the winner’s enclosure at Kempton last month.

He can follow up on that victory and has shown he is versatile in terms of ground conditions.

Doddiethegreat is favoured to put a disappointing run at the Cheltenham Festival behind him in the Coral “We’re Here For It” Handicap Hurdle.

Nicky Henderson’s runners endured a poor Festival and Doddiethegreat finished nearly 20 lengths behind Langer Dan in the Coral Cup. However, the

Seven Barrows string have enjoyed a return to form in recent times and Doddiethegreat can maintain that at Ayr and get back to the sort of level that saw him win his first four races.

Spartan Army will look to carry his allweather form onto turf in the Compton Beauchamp Estates Ltd Silver Bar Handicap over an extended two miles at Newbury.

The five-year-old won his first three races after switching to the

Flat from hurdles before finishing third last time out in the BetUK AllWeather Championships Marathon Handicap at Newcastle. He is still fairly handicapped on a mark of 96 and his two wins over hurdles both came with cut in the ground.