Kayley Woollacott upbeat despite Lalor’s shock defeat at Sandown on Saturday

KAYLEY WOOLLACOTT remains upbeat despite the shock defeat of stable star Lalor on Saturday.

The exciting six-year-old was a hugely impressive winner on his chasing debut at Cheltenham last month.

That performance saw him soar to the head of the betting for the Arkle, but he flopped when 8-11 favourite for the Henry VIII Novices Chase at Sandown at the weekend.

Woollacott has put that underwhelming performance down to the heavy ground at the Esher track, and she already has one eye on Lalor's next target at Doncaster in January.

Woollacott said in her Betway blog: "I said last week that I was a bit worried if the ground got heavy at Sandown on Saturday for Lalor and unfortunately that was the case.

"We had the same issue at Newbury in February. He just doesn't like it heavy, but he's absolutely fine and is having a quiet week now.

"Dicky (Richard Johnson) was very positive that it was some more decent experience for him. On the whole he jumped well, apart from being slow at the third."

Woollacott continued: "In an ideal world we would have liked to have given him more than just under three weeks between runs, but we now have plenty of time until the Lightning Novices' Chase at Doncaster at the end of January.

"There's also a nice gap between that race and Cheltenham, so we'll be hoping the ground isn't too bad and he can bounce back to last month's form.

"We know he's a very good horse and although Saturday was a mild setback, it's all part of the learning curve and his main targets are in the spring."