held up, in touch, headway 3 out, chased winner before last, stayed on flat
mistakes, prominent, blundered and reminder 5th, hard ridden and mistake 3 out, weakened
chased leaders, led 2 out, held on all out
in mid-division, blundered badly 4th, bit slipped and pulled up soon after
prominent until lost place 7th, mistake next, tailed off when pulled up before 4 out
ridden and lost place 7th, mistake next and 9th, tailed off
in touch, ridden and headway 8th, hard ridden and weakend before 3 out
held up in rear, stayed on approaching 3 out, one pace in 6th place when mistake 2 out, kept on
behind when pecked 3rd, tailed off when pulled up before 8th
led to 2 out, weakened quickly
blundered 1st, behind when blundered and unseated rider 3rd
A low-grade handicap but a fairly competitive one nonetheless and marginal preference is for Saint Romble. The Philip Hobbs-trained gelding was an easy winner at Ascot in December and hasn't been disgraced off his revised mark with placed efforts on his next two starts. The six-year-old looks capable of further progress and the booking of Mick Fitzgerald inspires further confidence. The Newsman was a decisive winner over an extra quarter-of-a-mile here last time but faces a much stiffer task off an 11lb higher mark and returns from a near three-month absence. Tullons Lance was well below his best last time but has place claims on earlier efforts while Johnlegood showed a return to form on his latest start and remains well treated on the pick of his form. Renaloo and Flahive's First both come here in fair form and shouldn't be underestimated in an open affair.
