Although just the five runners are set to line up for this handicap hurdle, it is one of the more difficult races on the card with every one of the quartet holding claims of some sort. Roman King has claims on the best of his form with Paul Nicholls but has failed to sparkle since leaving the care of the Ditcheat-based handler and, while Balakar showed his best form over hurdles over course and distance last time when third to World Wide Web, he still has plenty to do off his current mark. Henry Daly's Maconnor is progressing with each start and should improve again, while Robyn Alexander has claims provided her confidence was not knocked by falling at Doncaster recently but the selection is Jonjo O'Neill's Personal Assurance. The son of Un Desperado created a favourable impression when opening his account at Sandown last month, on only his second start over timber. A mark of 115 seems fair on his handicap debut and, with more improvement to come, he looks the one they have to beat.
