Scorpio could be written in the stars at Sandown

Scorpio Rising bids to extend his winning sequence to four in the European Breeders’ Fund Betfair “National Hunt” Novices’ Handicap Hurdle Final at Sandown on Saturday.

Third in an Exeter bumper and a Ffos Las maiden hurdle last year, the six-year-old has won each of his three starts since returning to action this season, impressing on his October comeback at Perth before following up at Lingfield the following month and then completing his hat-trick at Windsor in January.

He has been raised 7lb for the most recent of those victories to a revised mark of 128, but trainer Olly Murphy hopes he has not reached his ceiling just yet.

“Scorpio Rising looks progressive and I think the track and trip and everything will suit him well,” said the Warren Chase handler.

“He’s in really good form, came out of Windsor well and hopefully he’s improving.”

With champion jockey Sean Bowen siding with Scorpio Rising, Kielan Woods has been booked to partner his stablemate Gee Force Flyer in the £80,000 contest.

The Irish point-to-point winner has been placed on each of his three starts over hurdles without managing to get his head in front, but he is much lower in the weights as a result.

Murphy added: “We’d welcome a bit more rain for Gee Force Flyer but the stiff track will suit him well, he’s feasibly handicapped and this race has been the plan for a long time with him.”

Another leading contender is Kaka’s Cousin, who has won two of his three starts over hurdles for Jonjo and AJ O’Neill, most recently scoring by eight and half lengths in testing conditions at Kelso three weeks ago.

“He’s probably earned himself a crack at a bigger pot,” said AJ O’Neill.

“He was impressive the last day, I think the winning distance was probably slightly flattering because of the heavy ground, but he won well.

“The horse that was second (Kocktail Bleu) was second in the Dovecote afterwards, so that’s a nice bit of form to be going into the race with and we’ll keep our fingers crossed.”

The weights are headed by the David Pipe-trained Gentleman Toboot. The point-to-point and bumper winner looked the part when scoring at Newton Abbot and Exeter on his first two starts over hurdles, but he came up disappointingly short when bidding for the hat-trick on his handicap debut at Leicester.

Pipe said: “The Leicester run was a bit of a mystery, but if he returns to the form of his first two races (over hurdles) it will give him a good chance.

“I wouldn’t say he’s well treated and it’s a difficult race to win off that mark (131), but he deserves the mark on his first two performances and I think he’ll like the step back up in trip.”

Dan Skelton’s Unknown Entity and Four Springs from Ben Pauling’s yard also feature in a competitive heat.