held up well in rear, steady headway 2 out, still plenty to do approaching last, strong run flat, led towards finish
prominent to 5th, soon behind, tailed off
held up, headway 3 out, blundered last, led flat, not quicken and headed towards finish
led and set good pace, headed and mistake last, weakened flat
in touch until ridden and weakened from 5th
prominent to 4th, soon lost place and behind
chased leader, driven to lead approaching last, headed flat, kept on
took keen hold, held up, effort 3 out, soon ridden and weakened
held up, stayed on under pressure from 3 out, ran on flat, never nearer
held up, no chance when mistake 3 out, tailed off
behind, ridden 3 out, stayed on approaching last, not reach leaders
blundered 4th, behind most of way
took keen hold towards rear, ridden and beaten from 3 out, tailed off
Spectrometer keeps getting raised for coming second and might be vulnerable to one lower down the weights. Docklands Limo won at the Aintree Festival (from a mark of 122, now 130) in April 2001. He ran respectably on his return - over course and distance - but it would be a very good effort by horse and trainer to land this. It is hard to know what to make of Telimar Prince's Newbury win as it was falsely run and the subsequently beaten Adelphi Theatre held every chance when falling. However, he is lightly raced and is entitled to consideration. Latalomne, a winning novice hurdler, was going well when falling in this year's Arkle Chase, and is only slightly worse off for finishing ahead of Docklands Limo on his last run (although the latter should, of course, strip fitter). One-time useful hurdler, and subsequently a useful chaser too, His Song, certainly has claims if a switch to Nicky Henderson has freshened him up. Perkys Pride's Irish form with good recent Sandown winner Spirit Leader reads well although he showed little on his Newbury debut for Martin Pipe. For a gelding who stays, more use will perhaps be made of him here. Sullys Hope ran a blinder that day at Newbury (now raised 3lbs and the stiffer track is not sure to suit as all of his wins have come at Stratford) to finish third. Ontos and Bound seem handicapped to their best. It's fair to say that Samsaam, a Group 3 winner on the Flat over 15 furlongs for John Dunlop, has been disappointing so far over hurdles. If, however, he puts it together this season, he clearly has a good chance. Cita Verda looked quite useful at the start of her novice season and it will be interesting to see how she fares now fully sharpened up after a couple of runs in November. Jacdor (who has been treated for sore shins in the past) has been raised 7lbs since his Leicester win (Sullys Hope, beaten six-and-a-half lengths there and now 5lbs better off) but is sure to run his race. Zamat is on a four-timer (not raised for the last of those wins and the fourth and sixth from that race have won since) but this is his biggest test so far. Rainbows Aglitter ran respectably behind Never at Newbury but more will be needed to land this. Coulthard ran very well behind Rob Leach at Ascot last time and has been raised just a pound. He has run well from higher marks and has also to be considered. Protagonist has claims on his novice form but, overall, in a tricky race, Martin Pipe's Samsaam is taken as a tentative TEAMtalk selection to start living up to his billing.
