DUTY Of Care hasn’t had a lot of luck in-running of late. Three runs ago, in a two-mile handicap at Kempton in early February, he had to make his ground widest of all into the home straight, and while he had no answer to the finishing kick of the winner Citizen General, who enjoyed a ground-saving run around the home turn, he kept on well to finish a clear second.

On his penultimate run, in a two-mile handicap at Lingfield in early March, he was slowly away from stall 12, he was back in the field early on and he was very wide again around the first two turns.