Lord Accord will bid to go one better than two years ago in the 63rd running of the Badger Beer Handicap Chase at Wincanton on Saturday.
Neil Mulholland’s nine-year-old had the misfortune of bumping into a back-on-song Frodon in the 2022 running of the race.
Not surprisingly, despite being in receipt of the best part of two stone, Lord Accord was not up to beating a previous winner of the Ryanair Chase and King George.
Having lost his way a little last season, Mulholland freshened him up with a couple of outings back over hurdles, winning at Sedgefield, before he returned to Wincanton for his most recent outing where he made all the running and jumped for fun, scoring by 16 lengths.
“Fingers crossed, and I’m in the minority, I think, I’m hoping the ground stays as it is and he’ll be happy,” said Mulholland of his charge, who has a liking for good ground.
“He’s got course and distance form, he seems in good order and he’s had a recent run so he ticks plenty of the boxes.
“If he can reproduce that run from a couple of years ago, we’ll be happy. This has been the plan for a while with him so hopefully he can be there or thereabouts.
“He’s still only a nine-year-old, he’s been a great horse for us, consistent, and a couple of runs over hurdles really freshened him up.”
The Sam Thomas-trained Al Dancer tops the weights for the £80,000 contest, while last year’s winning trainer Anthony Honeyball fields three in Forward Plan, Lord Baddesley and Gustavian