13th-Mar-2021

Langer Dan could be a well-handicapped horse now.  He gets to race today off a mark of 130, which is 5lb lower than the mark off which he raced in the Fred Winter Hurdle last March.

He ran better than the bare form of that run suggests too.  He didn’t have a lot of room on the inside on the run down the hill, and he had to switch on the run to the final flight as Clemencia was wayward in front of him.   In the end, he did well to keep on as well as he did to finish sixth, just beaten a half a length for third.

He was beaten in his first two races this season, but that resulted in his handicap mark dropping, and he shaped much better last time at Market Rasen.  He got a little left behind on the run out of the back straight, but he stayed on takingly from the second last flight to take fourth place behind Ajero, closest at the finish.

Strangely, the handicapper dropped him by another 1lb for that run, which leaves him potentially very leniently handicapped on a mark of 130.  He is the right age for this race – five-year-olds have won four of the last 10 renewals from just 40 runners – and he is at the right end of the handicap.  Only one of the last 10 winners carried more than 10st 12lb.

LANGER DAN WON (ADV 5/1, SP 5/1)