The task facing Exotic Dancer at Haydock on Saturday may be still greater for the colours on his jockey's back. Already tainted with the label of a 'nearly horse', Exotic Dancer not only has to try and finish ahead of Kauto Star for the first time in eight attempts, but must also bid to end a startling barren spell for his owner, Sir Robert Ogden.

Traditionally among the most powerful of jumps patrons, Ogden finished second in the owners' championship two seasons ago. Now, though, he has suffered seven months without a single winner and Orphelin Collonges, at Fakenham yesterday, was his 37th consecutive loser this season.

Barry Simpson, racing manager to the Yorkshire-born knight, admits: “We've not just been on the cold list, we've been in the deep freeze. Our last jumps winner was in April but we are dealing with the same horses we had last season and we have some important runners coming up.”

These will not include Voy Por Ustedes, whose next target is the King George VI Chase at Christmas. “He won't run beforehand,” Simpson said. “The Peterborough Chase would have been ideal if it had been this coming weekend, as usual, but its new date is too close to Kempton.”

So for Ogden, who has stepped back from spending on the same scale as rival owners such as Graham Wylie, Haydock will be a significant meeting. Exotic Dancer, a gallant second to Knowhere on his seasonal bow, runs in the Betfair Chase and Star de Mohaison, his former Sun Alliance Chase winner, returns over hurdles in the £100,000 fixed brush contest.

Some bookmakers are now betting without Kauto Star and Exotic Dancer for Saturday's feature but Nigel Twiston-Davies, still heady with recent success, believes he can shake them both up with Ollie Magern. “His run at Wetherby was very good and the drying ground will be in his favour,” he said. “I certainly hope we can pick up some place money.”

Both Twiston-Davies and his former stable jockey, Carl Llewellyn, revealed negative news for the Hennessy Gold Cup yesterday. Imperial Commander, a brilliant winner of the Paddy Power Gold Cup, and Roll Along, who won a valuable prize at Ascot last month, have been ruled out of the Newbury race on Saturday week.

The reasons are different. With the weights sure to rise at the five-day stage, Llewellyn fears his stable star would have a punitive burden. “I'm going to take him either to Newcastle for the Rehearsal Chase on the same day or to Sandown for a graduation chase the following week,” he explained.

Twiston-Davies, who will instead run Knowhere at Newbury, is resisting the temptation to turn out Imperial Commander under a penalty despite the handicapper raising him 13lb for his Cheltenham win. “He is rated 152 now and I still think he'll be competitive off that mark, so we are giving him the extra fortnight before the Boylesports at Cheltenham,” he said.

Champion Hurdle pretenders will run at both ends of the country on Saturday. Crack Away Jack, the highest profile horse yet trained by Emma Lavelle, heads the field for the Ascot Hurdle, while Binocular, trained for J.P.McManus by Nicky Henderson, returns in a new four-year-old contest at Haydock. Squadron, added to the field when the race was re-opened, could represent Alan King, who had three more winners at Folkestone yesterday.