King Harald Team Eye Ayr Return

Cheltenham Festival winner King Harald is set to return to the track this weekend after an absence of over 12 months.

Mark Bradstock's gallant chaser won the inaugural running of the Jewson Handicap Chase in 2005, beating the likes of Lacdoudal and Sir Oj in the process.

He was originally stripped of the race following a drug test but was reinstated when the B sample returned negative.

King Harald then struggled in his second season over fences culminating in a fall at Southwell in the Sky Bet Chase last January.

However, owner Piers Pottinger believes the stress fracture he suffered on the gallops after that race was compounded by a long-term problem.

'It's a great training feat by Mark Bradstock to get him back on a track after a fracture,' said Pottinger.

'It would appear that it would explain why he didn't run so well on his last couple of starts but he is a very courageous horse.

'It would also explain why he tended to hang in his last few races.'

King Harald holds entries in the Aon Chase on Saturday, as well as at Warwick and Ayr on the same day.

But it is the latter, the three-mile-one-furlong Lloyds TSB Scotland Handicap Chase, connections are favouring at present.

'We don't want him to have a morale-sapping race so Newbury may just come too soon and at this stage Ayr is the preferred race ? if it goes ahead without terrible conditions ? and he would have a squeak,' concluded Pottinger.

(C) PA Sport