Pady among eight Chandler decs The Tom Cooper-trained Forpadydeplasterer is among the eight horses declared this monring for Saturday's Victor Chandler Chase at Ascot. All the entries earlier this week stand their ground with Finian's Rainbow heading the market, and Al Ferof, Somersby and Wishfull Thinking the other leading contenders. Ruby Walsh rides Al Ferof, and believes it is worth running the novice against his elders. He told Racing UK, "It looks a great race. I suppose the thinking is you don't have Big Zeb and Sizing Europe, who look the main players in the Champion Chase. "Obviously Finian's Rainbow was good at Kempton when he beat Wishfull Thinking. Somersby has been knocking on the door consistently all winter and last year, Forpadydeplasterer runs, and Oiseau De Nuit won the Grand Annual last year. "You can take those horses on for £105,000 or take on Sprinter Sacre and Peddlers Cross for £20,000 - it's worth a go. He'll get good experience for whatever target he has at Cheltenham." Ascot's clerk of the course Chris Stickels expects the ground to be "testing" after the recent thaw and forecast rain. "We've had quite a bit of rain this morning, probably five millimetres. After the frost came out of the ground on Tuesday and now this rain, I think we can expect fairly testing, soft ground now," Stickels told At The Races. "We're expecting showers for the rest of the week and into Saturday morning as well. The cold weather seems to have gone, but it does look fairly breezy and wet for the next few days so I expect it to be soft on Saturday."
