Racing Welfare Handicap Hurdle – Elgin bids to cap superb year for the Elite Racing Club

GREATWOOD HURDLE winner Elgin is seeking to give the high-flying Elite Racing Club a superb end to an amazing year in the Racing Welfare Handicap Hurdle at Ascot on Saturday.

The country's biggest syndicate hit the headlines earlier this month when their top-class sprinter Marsha was sold for a record six million guineas at Tattersalls Sales.

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While Sir Mark Prescott's Marsha was a dual Group One winner on the Flat, Alan King's Elgin has been very progressive over hurdles, with victories over this course and distance and in the Greatwood at Cheltenham seeing him take an 11lb hike in the ratings to the head of the valuable handicap.

"The nature of winning races like the Greatwood means you go up in the weights. That's to be expected," said Elite's racing manager Dan Downie.

"The thing is, you don't know how much more improvement there is in him. He tries hard and he seems to be improving with every run, so you just never know where it might stop.

"He's just more proficient all round really. His hurdling is slicker and he's just less green than he was."

Owner JP McManus has supplied the runner-up in this race three times since the contest was transferred to Britain in 2001 and has a talented duo running for him this year in the Nicky Henderson-trained Charli Parcs and Bleu Et Rouge from Willie Mullins' stable.

"Charli Parcs ran well the last day at Newbury and Nicky is very happy with him," said McManus's racing manager Frank Berry. "It's a competitive race, but we're hoping for a good run."

"Bleu Et Rouge was a bit disappointing on his first run back, but hopefully he will have come on for the run.

"Willie's been happy with him at home since."

Welsh trainer Evan Williams is hoping to be rewarded for his patience with Silver Streak when the four-year-old has his first race since making a winning return at Chepstow in mid-October.

"He did it well last time and we just wanted to run him in a handicap off as low a weight as we could," said the Llancarfan trainer.

"He was in the Greatwood, but he would have been out of the weights, so we thought we'd wait for this."

Williams has decided to let Evening Hush take her chance as she gets in towards to the bottom of the handicap on 10st 3lb.

"This time he will be trying to win off a career-high mark, which doesn't really make sense, but that is the way the handicapping system works.

"He has run well at Ascot before. He has not had a strongly-run race in either of his two runs this season, but I would like to think he will get that on Saturday. I think he is versatile trip-wise, but over two miles he does need a strong pace."

Henderson's course-winning mare Verdana Blue, Paul Nicholls' Divin Bere and Kerry Lee's hat-trick seeking Magic Dancer are others towards the head of the market in the 17 runner field.