Dual King George winner Clan Des Obeaux is looking to get back to winning ways having now gone four races without success and his handler Paul Nicholls is hoping that the addition of headgear will bring him forward at Aintree in the Grade One Betway Bowl.
Last season he started his term off over in Northern Ireland in November with Nicholls sending him into the Grade One Champion Chase at Down Royal and he finished a smart second behind Road To Respect and it worked out to be the perfect prep run ahead of the King George VI.
He went on to become a dual King George winner on Boxing Day 2019 and looked to add a third on the 26th December 2020 having had a superb prep run at Haydock.
Having not gone down the same route as last year with heading over to Down Royal, Nicholls took Clan Des Obeaux to the Mersyside track for the Grade One Betfair Chase.
Having ran a stormer the whole way round, the heavy ground in the final stages told and saw him finish a close second to triple winner of the race Bristol De Mai.
Just stop what you are doing and admire this ride from Bryony Frost on Secret Investor in the Denman...
— The Winners Enclosure (@TWEnclosure) February 21, 2021
World. Class. 👏🏼
I hope Harry Cobden doesn't bump in to her back at the yard cause no chance she'll let him pass 🥁
🎬 @RacingTV pic.twitter.com/tW3TesVUDA
He headed to Kempton full of confidence, but unfortunately it was not to be with stablemate Frodon stealing the show.
Last time out he was seen at Newbury in the Grade Two Denman Chase, which he won last year, but this time he around he was narrowly outstayed by stablemate Secret Investor.
All of these runs have been preparing him for a big run in the Betway Bowl at Aintree where he is set to take on stars like A Plus Tard and possibly Tiger Roll.
(Credit ATR) Trainer Paul Nicholls said: “Clan Des Obeaux will run in the Betway Bowl and he is either going to run in some blinkers or cheekpieces – we will decide nearer the time.
“He ran very well the last day behind Secret Investor and he deserves to win a nice race this season. He ran on at Haydock in the Betfair Chase, but the ground would have been against him that day, then he didn’t quite perform in the King George.
“I just think some cheekpieces or blinkers might just sharpen him up a bit, because the other day I thought he should have won at Newbury, but Secret Investor just out-battled him a little bit.
“To be fair, he has had a lot of hard races but he has stayed sound through it all. He probably looks after himself a little bit, so a bit of headgear might just focus him a bit more.”