led, stumbled badly slithered on landing and narrowly headed 9th, led again before 4 out, ridden before next, kept narrow advantage under pressure until headed last, no chance with winner flat
chased leader, led narrowly 9th until before 4 out, last and struggling after 4 out, soon lost touch, tailed off and pulled up before last
took keen hold, tracked leading pair, 2nd going well 4 out, led last, pushed ang and well in command flat
took keen hold and not always fluent, held up 4th, 3rd from 4 out, not fluent next, no impression on front duo from 2 out
Liam Treadwell has partnered Straw Bear in his last two starts and is on board this once-useful hurdler again in this. But Tony McCoy was the 10-year-old's regular pilot in his heyday so the fact that he's chosen JP McManus' other representative, QUANTITATIVEEASING, speaks volumes here. Nicky Henderson's six-year-old was thrown in at the deep end on his chasing debut behind Time For Rupert at Cheltenham but acquitted himself well until lack of condition told. Sure to have learned plenty from that, he can open his account over the larger obstacles now. Prescelli won a mares' handicap at Ffos Las on her latest start but still needs to brush up her jumping so Fruity O'Rooney is preferred back over fences after an outing over the brush hurdles at Haydock.
Fruity O'Rooney 25-1 (10-10) Led to 1st, tracked leader, led again before 4 out, headed soon after, weakened from next, 10th of 18, 46l behind Grands Crus (10-10) at Haydock 3m Listed hcp hdl (1) gs in Nov.
Prescelli (IRE) 10-1 (11-12) Close up, slow and dropped to rear 2nd, reminders soon after, sharp reminders with a circuit to go, headway to press leader 4 out, ridden to lead 2 out, idled approaching last, kept up to work flat, won at Ffos Las 2m 5f mares hcp chs 0-115 (4) gs in Nov beating Topless (11-1) by 2 1/4l, 5 ran.
Quantitativeeasing (IRE) 7-1 (11-2) Chased leaders until weakened before 4 out, soon tailed off and eased, 7th of 10, well behind Time For Rupert (11-2) at Cheltenham 2m 4f nov chs (2) gs in Nov.
Straw Bear (USA) 33-1 (11-7) Led until after 3 out, soon weakened, 6th of 7, well behind Go Native (11-7) at Kempton 2m hdl G1 (1) gs in Dec '09.
