held up mid-division, headway 9th, led 3 out, kept on well from last
towards rear, pushed along 9th, weakened from next
in touch, closer order 6th, led next, ridden and headed 3 out, soon weakened
in touch until lost place 8th
tracked leaders until ridden and lost place 11th
held up in mid-division, headway 10th, ridden approaching 2 out, kept on same pace
chased leader, ridden approaching 2 out, weakened last
held up mid-division, ridden and weakened from 4f
led, headed 7th, chased leader until weakened 11th
Hit Royal gets the call here ahead of Rudi Knight and Whatashock. The selection is now back on a winning mark and, given that he will strip fitter for his recent Huntingdon run over a longer trip, looks set to run well. Montreal has lost his way a little but is certainly very well handicapped based on his form of a year ago, Gabla has been raised seven pounds for a tidy Hexham win, and a number of the others will also have to put in career-best winning efforts to oblige. However, only lightly-raced over fences, Rudi Knight has not looked bad in winning a couple of novice events and it is conceivable that the handicapper has underrated him. If he jumps better than he did behind Harik last time, he could go very well here. Whatashock stepped up on previous form to win at Wincanton last time and could well have more to come. For today, though, we will side with Hit Royal.