Prix La Barka next for Zarkandar Zarkandar will miss the StanJames.com Chester Cup a week on Wednesday and instead head off to Paris for his next start. The smart hurdler is being targeted at the Prix La Barka at Auteuil on May 18, a race his trainer won last year with Celestial Halo. Nicholls feels the big staying handicap on the Flat comes a little too soon for the seven-year-old, who was last seen finishing fourth to Whisper in Aintree's Silver Cross Stayers' Hurdle. The Ditcheat handler told At The Races: "He's not going to be quite ready to go to Chester, which is next week, so he's going to go to Auteuil for the Prix La Barka on May 18. "I think two mile five is just about the perfect trip for him so we'll see how we get on in France."
