ALAN King was left with a quandary after 10/1 shot Who Dares Wins (Tom Cannon) stayed on best to land the Grade 2 Pendil by three-quarters of a length from the Paul Nicholls-trained Southfield Stone (Bryony Frost).

The Northumberland Plate winner has been an intended runner in the RSA Insurance Chase, but the handicapper left his mark unchanged for this, and King is now leaning towards a run in the Ultima Handicap Chase on the opening day of the Cheltenham meeting next month.

In truth, he was a lucky winner, as Master Tommytucker (Paul Nicholls/Harry Cobden) was bounding along merrily in front when he was once again caught out by his only jumping lapse at the fourth last. He is a high-class chaser in the making, but three falls in four starts over fences is a poor return for that precocious talent.

Song pulls it out of the fire

THE market proved correct as the well-backed Song For Someone (Tom Symonds/Aidan Coleman) justified skinny odds of 11/8 in the rearranged Champion Hurdle Trial, but not before looking held, and he hit 450 in running on the exchanges after conceding first run to Diego Du Charmil (Paul Nicholls/Harry Cobden) and Ch’Tibello (Dan/Harry Skelton).

The five-year-old dug very deep, however, and his stamina kicked in after the last hurdle, allowing him to get up in the dying strides to win by half a length and a neck.

The winner has never been in the Champion Hurdle, but has improved this winter, and did well to score here where the quicker ground and sharper test were far from ideal given the conditions in which he’s been flourishing.

It seems extremely unlikely that he will appear at Cheltenham after this, and this was hardly a trial worth saving in terms of its impact on the Champion Hurdle.

As a footnote, Alan King reported that Elgin, who pulled up on his first start after a long absence, returned home “in pieces” and he won’t be seen again for some time.