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Colonel Harry will be chasing a first-Graded victory in Saturday’s Towton Novices’ Chase at Wetherby.
The Jamie Snowden-trained gelding caught the eye with a strong jumping performance on chasing debut at Chepstow in November and held some useful placed form at Graded company over hurdles, including when second in the Grade 2 Premier Novices' Hurdle at Kelso. He lost little in defeat on desperate ground at Sandown when placing a close second behind Le Patron in the Grade 1 Henry VIII Chase on 9 December.
"He was a decent novice hurdler but always threatened to be a better chaser and so it has proved so far," said Snowden.
"He won very nicely on his chasing debut at Chepstow and then put in a huge performance when second in a Grade One at Sandown the last day.
"A mistake at the first just put him on the back foot and he was always playing catch-up from then. He almost made up the ground and was closing all the way to the line, but just didn't quite get up.
"I think the step up in trip here should suit him now. There are nice horses in this race and he needs to go and do it, but it looks the right race for him and he will like the ground and he's in great form."
The contest has been reduced to four runners, but Colonel Harry will face tough opposition in the Kim Bailey-trained Trelawne, who placed third at Cheltenham during the December meeting.
"It is kind of a late decision, and our original plan was to go to Chepstow on Tuesday, but they think that won't be on," he said.
"He needs racecourse experience, so we have decided to reroute here, but Jamie Snowden's horse looks took tough to beat at the weights.
"If the ratings are correct then it could be quite an interesting race, but we shall see and Trelawne needs experience.
"If he hadn't made the mistake at the last then he might have gone a bit closer at Cheltenham (last time), but he is a nice horse I hope."
Colonel Harry currently holds favouritism at 8/11 with Trelawne widely available at 10/3 for the Wetherby feature race.