JOCKEY Tony Dobbin has warned punters not to rule Barton out of the reckoning for the Smurfit Champion Hurdle at Cheltenham in March.

Tim Easterby's seven-year-old lost his unbeaten record over timber when he finished a six-length second to Geos in the Bonusprint Bula Hurdle at Cheltenham last Saturday.

But Dobbin said: "Obviously I was very disappointed to get beaten but as far as the horse goes he ran a sound race - he ran pretty well.

"They didn't go that quick. In hindsight I maybe would have been better off making more use of him but Mr Easterby didn't want me to let him go any sooner than when we straightened up.

"I'm not saying he would have won, which I probably wouldn't have done, but there will be a lot more improvement to come from Barton.

"I think whenever he goes over further you'll see him at his best. But I wouldn't go ruling him out of any Champion Hurdle yet."

Barton is a best-priced 16-1 with Victor Chandler for the Champion Hurdle.

WARWICK PROSPECTS "NOT VERY GOOD" Warwick worry PROSPECTS for racing at Warwick on Saturday have been described as "not very good".

Clerk of the course Hugo Bevan said: "We'll probably inspect on Thursday for Saturday. It has been dry overnight but the forecast is bad with an inch of rain forecast in the next 24 hours."

TWO OF THURSDAY'S MEETINGS RAINED OFF

Racing's fixture list continues to be hit by the wet weather with the news of two more abandonments on Tuesday.

Towcester, where racing was due to take place on Thursday, was the first to be called off.

Officials had planned to look at the course tomorrow but following overnight rain they inspected the track today.

Clerk of the course Hugo Bevan said: "We had four millimetres of rain overnight and the back straight is waterlogged. There is more rain expected this afternoon and the forecast is appalling.

"And the way conditions are there is no way Towcester will be able to race on Thursday."

Exeter, another of Thursday's meetings, soon followed suit after officials found the course to be waterlogged at an 11.30am inspection.

Clerk of the course Nick Ansell said: "I'm afraid we've had to abandon. The course is still waterlogged in places.

"We've really been struggling ever since we had 69 millimetres, that is two and three-quarter inches, of rain last Thursday night. The wet has been consistently topped up ever since then.

"There was no way this decision was a cliffhanger - it was a foregone conclusion."

THRILLER CUP DECISION DELAYED

Double Thriller, fourth in the 1999 Cheltenham Gold Cup, is not certain to be in the line-up for the Tote Silver Cup at Ascot on Saturday.

"There won't be a decision until later in the week when we know what the ground will be like," the 10-year-old's trainer Paul Nicholls said. "With him having had a wind problem I wouldn't want to run him on desperate ground.

"There will be plenty of options over Christmas for him."

The recent wet weather has not affected Nicholls' training routine.

He said: "We've not had any problems. We have a good all-weather gallop - it's the courses that are wet."

WARWICK'S GOLD CUP

Warwick racecourse will stage a new £40,000-added handicap chase next month, it has been announced.

The Tote Scoop6 Warwickshire Gold Cup will be run over three and a quarter miles on January 13 for horses rated 0-150.

Racecourse manager Christian Leech said: "This is our most valuable ever race by some considerable way, the previous richest being £22,000.

"With this significant increase in prize money we hope to attract top-class handicappers.

"We have an excellent new £3million grandstand and are now making a concerted effort to further improve the quality of racing and move Warwick up a division."

Tote public relations director Rob Hartnett said: "We are delighted to support such a great race at Warwick. In 2000 its predecessor, the Warwick National was the race on which the Munchen Gladbackers went down in their quest to win over £1m on the Scoop6. Hopefully this season's race will be equally exciting."

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