Lidar set to light-up Towcester Alan King has never hidden his regard for Lidar and the chestnut son of Take Risks gets another chance to show his true worth when he contests the TCA Engineering Ltd Novices' Hurdle at Towcester today. Unusually for this stage of the season, a horse of Lidar's undoubted ability faces a serious enough rival in the shape of De Forgotten Man. This fellow wasn't entirely disgraced when finishing sixteenth in the Cheltenham bumper and interestingly the course winner has jumping experience from his time in Irish 'points.' He won at Boulta last November under Liz Lalor. He was trained in Clonmel by Tom Keating at that stage but that success was achieved on heavy ground. De Forgotten Man is by Commander Collins, sire of the promising Chartreux. It will be a disappointment though, if Lidar can't take this, now he encounters better ground coming here off a 136 day break. After all he was operating at a completely different level when fourth behind General Miller at Cheltenham back in December. Another for short-odds backers at the stamina sapping Towcester would appear to be Tim Vaughan's The Ferbane Man (he is also in at Wincanton tomorrow). This winner of a Horse And Jockey confined in his time with Andy Slattery, the six-year-old is no world beater but he jumps well and it will be disappointing if he can't account for his four rivals in the safenames.net Beginners' Chase at 2.50.
