held up in touch, mistake 7th, fell next
tracked leaders, joined leaders 8th, led 6 out, headed next, one pace from 2 out
held up, headway and 3 lengths 3rd when fell 5 out
close up, hit 3rd, ridden 4 out, soon outpaced
led, headed 6 out, led next, stayed on from 2 out
held up, pushed along 7th, soon lost place, tailed off when pulled up before 5 out
prominent, outpaced from 7th, never dangerous after
Armen hardly looked a natural on his chase debut at Newbury last month but Martin Pipe's gelding was easily the best of these over timber and he should be too good for his rivals, the best of who look to be Arctic Lagoon and Fireaway. The last mentioned knows his way round here having had seven of his 10 career starts at Town Moor and ran promisingly on his first start over fences when a close fourth behind Extra Cache in December. Owen Brennan's gelding has to be respected, along with Sue Bradburne's Arctic Lagoon, who takes a drop in class having disappointed in his last two starts. Ferdy Murphy's Garde Bien is lightly raced and is another worthy of a mention, especially now that his yard is coming back into form. Romil Star and McCracken are coming to chasing rather late in their careers and we prefer to side with Armen who can be forgiven his latest start.
