led, clear 5th, ridden 9th, headed before next, soon weakened
always towards rear, lost touch 8th, pulled up before next
tracked clear leader, ridden and weakened 3 out
held up, took closer order 6th, ridden approaching 2 out, stayed on to go 2nd last, no chance with winner
held up and behind, headway approaching 7th, chased winner 3 out, ridden next, one pace flat
held up towards rear, behind from 8th, tailed off
held up, headway approaching 7th, ridden approaching 4 out, led approaching 3 out, soon clear, easily
The Philip Hobbs-trained Grey Report improved throughout last season but faces no easy task giving weight away all round in a handicap on his reappearance and a chance is taken with L'Aventure, who is preferred to the trio of Jonjo O'Neill's trio. It is hard to choose between Jonjo's horses on form. With proven handicap performer Campaign Trail seemingly plenty high enough in the weights now it may be that Hawk's Landing, who went novice chasing last season, is the best handicapped of the three over Yeoman's Point, who also returns to the smaller obstacles having been chasing. Cracking Dawn is another reverting to hurdles having been pulled up in his two starts over fences last term but Robert Alner's gelding does not look to be particularly well treated, while the Nigel Twiston-Davies-trained Barneys Lyric has gone up 11lbs for his recent win at Stratford and has more to do now. The vote then goes to L'Aventure. The Paul Nicholls-trained mare is another that returns to hurdling after a spell chasing but she looks to have been let in very lightly in comparison to her chasing rating and looks worth a bet.
