Arkle favourite Edwardstone set for workout

Alan King is to give his Arkle hope Edwardstone his first bit of work today since the star novice chaser completed a four-timer at Warwick.

The eight-year-old, who is ante-post favourite for the two-mile novice chase showpiece, has had a quiet time since his impressive victory over Third Time Lucki in the Kingmaker last month.

The Barbury Castle handler is now stepping up Edwardstone’s preparation with the Festival approaching.

“Edwardstone is absolutely fine. He had a quiet couple of weeks after Warwick, but is cantering away and is due to do his first bit of work tomorrow. He’ll have a school on Monday and it’s just a case of ticking over with him now,” he said.

“I’d like the ground to tighten up a little bit. Good, good to soft would be ideal.”

King will not have many runners in the handicaps but he is keen on Tritonic’s prospects in the McCoy Contractors County Handicap Hurdle.

“We’ve got very few for the handicaps, but Tritonic will come here for the County Hurdle and we just got the tactics totally wrong in the Betfair Hurdle,” he said.

“We raced too handy and got it back to front, so we’ll go back to how we rode him at Ascot and he could run very well.”

King has yet to decide whether it will be the Plate Handicap Chase or the Mrs Paddy Power Mares’ Chase for The Glancing Queen.

“The one I haven’t made up my mind about is The Glancing Queen. She’s in the Mares’ Chase, but I did put her in the Plate. We’ll probably confirm her for both races and see,” he added.