made all, jumped well, shaken up run in, comfortably
tracked winner, blundered 9th, weakened from 11th, tailed off and pulled up before 4 out
held up in touch, headway to track winner 9th, ridden approaching 2 out, no extra
tracked winner until weakened 13th soon beaten
held up in touch, weakened and lost touch from 12th, tailed off
With Lord Transcend's defection, this looks a wide-open affair with Our Armageddon and Castle Richard likely to be among the market principals and preference is for the former of the two, who is taken to give Richard Guest another novice prize. Our Armageddon was a recent winner of a weak event at Kelso where he did nothing wrong and could not fail to impress despite prohibitive odds on the day. Castle Richard caught many eyes when beating the progressive Silver Knight at Sedgefield last December. That was pretty decent form and he does look to possess enough physical scope to make a chaser. Balinahinch Castle showed nothing for new connections since leaving Jonjo O'Neill's yard. That said, his fledgling trainer has sent out a recent winner and there were excuses reported for his flops at the end of last term. Shannon's Pride could be the fly in the ointment. Chasing has always been the aim for this son of Roselier and if we were to ignore a decidedly flat performance at Kelso, it is likely that he would start at much shorter odds here. The market is watched for positive signs. In a race that could throw up a few future winners, we believe that Our Armageddon holds solid claims.
