German challenger Gamgoom features among seven declarations for the £30,000 Scoop6soccer Results At Totepoolliveinfo.com Conditions Stakes (2.15pm) at Chelmsford City on Saturday, January 2.
The five-furlong contest is a Fast-Track Qualifier for the £150,000 Unibet All-Weather Sprint Championships over six furlongs at Lingfield Park on All-Weather Championships Finals Day, Good Friday, March 25.
Gamgoom (Mario Hofer/Martin Harley) has won six of his last seven starts and comes in on the back of an easy five-length victory over British raider Thorpe Bay in a five and a half furlong handicap on Fibresand at Neuss, Germany, on November 22. That success brought his All-Weather record to four wins and a second from six outings.
The four-year-old Exceed And Excel colt captured a five-furlong Listed race on turf at San Siro, Italy, in September but was last of eight in a Group Three over the course and distance the following month.
Hofer said: "Gamgoom has been in good form. He has won 11 races this year and has not stopped improving. His only bad run came in Italy when the ground was too soft - he needs good ground.
"He likes the All-Weather and the track at Chelmsford should suit him. Hopefully, he will run a good race as then we will think about coming back to England for more races."
The home team is led by classy performer Lancelot Du Lac (Dean Ivory/Robert Winston). The five-year-old has won both his starts on the All-Weather in 2015, including last time out when blitzing his rivals from the front in a competitive six-furlong handicap at Kempton Park on November 25.
Ivory said today: "Lancelot Du Lac is very well in himself. He has obviously got more form over six furlongs but he has run some great races over five in Dubai and at Royal Ascot.
"The Kempton win was up there with his best performances. He showed good speed from the front and they could not catch him.
"I think the surface at Chelmsford City will suit him and he is probably better going left-handed. He is the top-rated horse in the race and I would like to think he will be hard to beat.
"He is very unlikely to go out to Dubai this season. The plan is to keep him in this country and hopefully he might end up in the championship sprint on Good Friday, all being well."
The field also includes Lightscameraction (pictured)(Gay Kelleway/Adam Kirby), who captured the £150,000 Unibet Three-Year-Old Sprint Championship on Good Friday, and lightly-raced filly Likely (David Barron/Oisin Murphy).
Magnus Maximus (Robyn Brisland/Pat Cosgrave), third in the Listed Unibet Golden Rose Stakes at Lingfield Park last time out, three-time Southwell winner Meadway (Bryan Smart/Paul Mulrennan) and course scorer Vimy Ridge (Alan Bailey/Joe Fanning) complete the line-up.
Chelmsford City's seven-race Polytrack programme on January 2 starts at 12.30pm and concludes at 3.55pm.
