Zarkander in sixes and sevens

Paul Nicholls saddles two of the market leaders for this afternoon’s Word Hurdle at Cheltenham.

Nicholls’ assistant trainer at Ditcheat Tom Jonason is hopeful Zarkandar will prove his most recent performance to be all wrong.

Zarkandar was favourite to collect the Long Walk Hurdle at Ascot in December having win a Grade One prize in France in November in convincing fashion.

The eight-year-old travelled strongly for Sam Twiston-Davies for much of the journey and appeared to have the contest at his mercy when hit the front on the bridle at the last.

However, he idled badly and Reve De Sivola fought back to win bravely.

Jonason admits Zarkandar can be a hard individual to figure out but he is hopeful he will prove his form in France to be his true running.

“He’s a little bit quirky. He didn’t flatter himself at Ascot when he was caught on the line by Reve De Sivola,” Jonason told Cheltenham Radio.

“Looking back to his first run of the season, it was a Grade One over three-miles in Autueil, he jumped the last a length down and tore away with the race – a completely different character to the day at Ascot which is a bit puzzling.”