A cracking contest which should provide a good guide to the Sun Alliance Chase at the Festival. Jungle Jinks is ceratinly going the right way and will have no trouble with the prevailling conditions, but this is his toughest test to date, over a trip which could be on the short side for him. Man Murphy has gaining valuable experience, mopping up minor events at Newcastle. A sound jumper of fences, he is about to lose his unbeaten record over the larger obstacles. This looks to rest between Keen Leader and The Bajan Bandit. The latter, a more than useful hurdler, was always going to be a better chaser and he has not disappointed in his two chases to date. He handles heavy ground and will be tough to beat, but in Keen Leader he faces a top class rival, who may just have too much speed for him over this trip. Jonjo O'Neill's charge has the scope to go to the very top over fences and is unlucky not to come here unbeaten. The winner of his first four races over hurdles, he looked to have the Royal & Sun Alliance Novices Hurdle at his mercy when departing at the penultimate flight. Not seen again until this season, he was made a short price to make a winning debut at Cheltenham, where he failed to negotiate the fence adjacent to where he fell, in the Spring. Back on a flat track, away from the undulations of Cheltenham, he had little more than a piece of work in disposing of a couple of inferior rivals here, but it did prove that he can handle these tricky fences and he is taken to land this valuable prize.
