i.t, led af 4 out, clr 2 out, cmfy
led, j.r thrght, rdn and hdd af 4 out, sn one paced
hld up, bh wh p.u bf 2 out
i.t, msk 7th, j.s 9th, wknd 11th, j.s 13th, sn p.u
It is very difficult to see anything being good enough to beat Joly Bey here. The Paul Nicholls-trained gelding has to give weight away all around, but is proven on soft ground and over the track and has some good form to his name in four starts this season. A good jumper, he will be very hard to pass and the only slight nagging doubt is whether he genuinely sees out the trip. Despite that, he is the selection here. Regal Holly would get a fair bit more weight if this were a handicap and she also has a tendency to make the odd blunder. Having said that, she is proven over the trip, having won over 3m 1f on soft ground at Folkestone on her penultimate start and she will be thereabouts to expose any chink in the stamina of the selection. She should be good enough to follow him home for the forecast. Full Minty comes here for his fencing debut after being off the track since winning a hurdle at Kempton in April 2001. Clearly one with ability, he will surely be ring rusty, but Nigel Twiston-Davies is well capable of getting them ready to win after a long absence and as he is sure to have been well schooled he could put in a big run. Lack of experience might just count against him. The other two runners, Granite Steps and Mad Jack do not look betting propositions on recent form.
