chased leader, led 10th, hit 3 out, under pressure 2 out, driven out
in rear, not fluent 8th, weakened from 13th, went poor 3rd approaching 3 out, no impression after
chased leaders, reminders after 7th, quickly pulled up after 9th, dismounted
led, jumped left 1st, blundered and headed 10th, ridden approaching four out, challenged 2 out, not quickened flat
held up, chased leader 3rd, mistake next, weakened from 13th
Grattan Lodge is on a retrieval mission here and is taken to bounce back at the expense of Tell Me Why in what looks a two-horse race on paper. Howard Johnson's seven-year-old was a prolific scorer over hurdles last season, but looked every inch a chaser in the making, and it was therefore no surprise when he duly made a winning debut over fences at Sedgefield last month, jumping well in the front rank throughout. Grattan Lodge got bogged down in the very heavy ground at Newcastle last week when odds-on to follow up, coming to grief at the seventh as he failed to pick up. Seen as a future long-distance chaser by his trainer, it is interesting that he is turned out again so quickly, and confidence will be high that this time he makes no mistakes and defies his penalty. Paul Webber has his team in good order and so a good run from the reappearing Tell Me Why can be anticipated. Only lightly raced, he finished runner-up to Cool Investment on only his second racecourse outing at Warwick in December 2002. That was also his first taste of fences, and although he has been off for a while, the eight-year-old has the scope to perhaps be considered for the four-miler at Cheltenham providing he comes out of this test with no ill-effects. Of the rest here, only Gunner Dream makes a bit of appeal, but only if something happens to either of the two market-leaders, the best of whom should be Grattan Lodge.
