Solar Impulse, who was one of the stars of the show at Aintree earlier this month, will bid to give Worcestershire trainer Ian Williams a rare Cartmel win in the featured Oakmere Homes Handicap Chase on Sunday.

With almost £12,000 to the winner, the race is the highpoint of the two-day meeting which gets under way on Friday afternoon and has its second stage on Sunday.

Although he has not had a winner at Cartmel for seven years, the fact is he has hardly had a runner either.

“The truth is that at this time of year we are usually concentrating on the Flat, but conditions are right for Solar Impulse and he will take his chance on Sunday,” said Williams, whose career score of more than 1,350 winners is almost evenly split between Flat and jumps.

Run over an extended two miles five furlongs, the race will test the stamina of Solar Impulse, who has never won beyond two and a quarter miles, but Williams is hopeful of a big run.

“He won at Aintree last time when visored for the first time and I have always thought he would stay this trip, especially round a track like Cartmel. All I have to do is decide on the jockey as Charlie Todd, who rode him last time, is going to Uttoxeter on Sunday,” the trainer added.

However, Todd will ride the Williams-trained Ship Of The Fen, who will carry stable hopes in the Watch On Racing TV Maiden Hurdle on Friday.

If Solar Impulse is to win on Sunday, among the rivals he will have to overcome is Cartmel favourite Tonto’s Spirit, who will also be testing his stamina as he attempts to make it three wins from three stars at the course this season.

A win for Dianne Sayer’s bold front-runner will make it seven wins from 10 races at Cartmel and will equal the record of Soul Magic, who won seven races at the Cumbrian track between 2011 and 2014.

“It will test his stamina, but he has earned his chance at a race like this and I hope that his love for Cartmel will help see him home” said Mrs Sayer, who trains Tonto’s Spirit for her father Arthur Slack.

This is Cartmel’s second meeting of the season and, like the May Bank Holiday fixture, the crowd numbers are strictly limited under Covid rules and admission is by pre-paid ticket only.