Weighty Obstacle To Spot

Spot Thedifference will have to defy an equal career-high mark if he is to regain the Sporting Index Handicap Chase at Cheltenham next month.

Enda Bolger's brilliant 14-year-old has only been beaten twice in eight starts over the Cheltenham Cross Country course and won the Festival event in 2005.

The handicap treats cross-country form seriously and ?Spot' finds himself given a mark of 150, with his highest winning rating being 144 in the event last December.

Senior jumps handicapper Phil Smith said: 'Spot Thedifference would be running off a mark of around 127 in an ordinary chase, but with his experience over the course, we decided he should run off 150.'

The veteran will have to shoulder 11st 12lb should he start, which is a marked turnaround at the weights with Royal Auclair (11st 5lb).

Smith added: 'Royal Auclair has been rated 143, where normally he would be 147. He has experience over the obstacles, but we took the view he is not as good over cross-country as he is generally.'

Smith and his team have been compiling their own figures for Irish form to equate the form, with Irish handicapping in British races often a contentious issue.

Foreman, a possible for the Seasons Holidays Queen Mother Champion Chase, is also in as top weight for both the Racing Post Plate and the Johnny Henderson Grand Annual Challenge Cup and gives the former a particularly lopsided look being rated 8lb above his rivals.

Paul Nicholls' Desert Quest has a similar effect on the Vincent O'Brien County Hurdle and the weights would rise 10lb if he were pulled out.

Nicholls reiterated that Desert Quest would run in the race if the ground was soft, but tackle the Smurfit Kappa Champion Hurdle if the going came up good.

(C) PA Sport