BACK TO BASICS FOR HOC

Connections of Ad Hoc will now go 'back to basics' after the seven-year-old again proved to be a bitter disappointment to his followers in Saturday`s Pertemps Great Yorkshire Chase at Doncaster.

Paul Nicholls` charge was sent off the well-backed favourite for the three-mile contest but faded out of contention after making several mistakes down the back straight and was pulled up by jockey Adrian Maguire.

And Barry Simpson, racing manager to owner Robert Ogden, today admitted: 'He was extremely disappointing and we are really are going to have to go back to basics with his jumping.

'You could say that he jumped adequately in the early part of the race but he made three consecutive bad mistakes and Adrian was sensible to pull him up.

'He`s got the ability but for some reason, he is not jumping when he gets to the racecourse. He is a little bit keen and he may need to be switched off early on.

'But we will work on it and get it right whether it be this season or next.'

Simpson explained the problem of trying to find a suitable race where the horse could have his confidence rebuilt.

'If he was rated 120, we could find a little race for him but he is rated 138 and there is just nothing like that,' he said.

'We have to run him in competitive races where they always go quick and it is finding him out. It is the jump from the novice category.'

There was also news of the Ogden-owned Marlborough, who runs next in the AON Chase at Newbury, where he could lock horns with ante-post Tote Gold Cup favourite First Gold.

'He is in good form but he still has 16 or 17lb to find before he is a Gold Cup horse,' Simpson said.

'We didn`t think we needed to go for the Pillar where he is proven on the track.

'If for some reason he misses the AON, for example if the going came up very heavy, then he could go for the Racing Post Chase.

'But he still has significant improvement to find and Mr Ogden will not run him in the Gold Cup unless he feels that he has a realistic chance of winning the race.'