with leader to 8th, ridden and every chance 2 out, stayed on one pace flat
chased leaders, joined leader 7th, ridden, slightly squeezed and lost place approaching 2 out, soon weakened
held up in touch, headway approaching 3 out, led going well after 2 out, drew clear flat, easily
held up in touch, pecked 1st, not fluent 3rd, headway approaching 3 out, still going well and every chance when stumbled badly and sprawled on landing 2 out, not recover
led until headed after 2 out, ridden approaching last, stayed on one pace flat, no chance with winner
Paul Nicholls looks to hold the key to the outcome of this contest saddling three of the six runners and the trio of Santenay, Le Duc and Thisthatandtother may easily fill the first three places with our vote going to the last mentioned. The selection was a useful bumper horse two seasons ago, finishing fourth in the Festival Bumper, and showed a similar high level of ability over timber last term, finishing fifth in the Supreme Novices' Hurdle. However, he has always been likely to make a chaser and showed that opinion was borne out when the son of Bob Back made an impressive debut over fences at Bangor last month. Sure to have learned a great deal from the experience he is taken to follow up. Stablemate Le Duc is also held in high regard by his handler and did nothing wrong on his chasing bow at Wetherby last month but he was not as impressive as Thisthatandtother. Nicholls third runner Santenay was the best of these over hurdles but does not look to be the most natural of jumpers and has failed to impress so far. Atum Re created a favourable impression when winning at Market Rasen last month and has to be respected but this represents a step up in class for him. Neither Forrestfield nor Ryders Storm looks good enough to trouble Thisthatandtother, who gets a confident vote.
