prominent until slow 1st, rear pair after, mistake 8th, behind 10th, pulled up before 2 out
led early, prominent, jumped left 4th, not fluent and lost 2nd 8th, hit 12th, weakened before 2 out
chased leaders, went 2nd 8th until awkward 2 out, no extra flat
chased leaders, ridden after 3 out, led next, driven out
held up in rear, in touch 10th, pushed along after 3 out, 4th 2 out, went 2nd flat, stayed on, not reach winner
jumped left, soon led, headed 2 out, lost 2nd and held flat
There is a question mark hanging over La Bague Au Roi after her no-show in the Charlie Hall at Wetherby, though this is more her trip. Top Notch is very game and is better over fences than hurdles so it was encouraging to see him make a winning return over the smaller obstacles at Aintree. Charbel won this last year but showed little after and has 6lb more to carry. Born Survivor is a smart handicapper who will have benefited from his run at Wetherby but ASO (NAP) is also entitled to take a step forward having just failed to last home over 3m on his reappearance and he’s the one to beat on his second in last season’s Ryanair.
Charbel (IRE) 7-1 (11-3) Disputed lead until chased leader 6th, beaten 4 out, last of 6, 24 1/4l behind Janika (11-10) at Exeter 2m 1f hcp (1) sft in Nov.
Aso (FR) 7-1 (11-4) Tracked leader, led before 4 out, headed 2 out, no extra run-in, 3rd of 7, 9 3/4l behind Ballyoptic (11-0) at Wetherby 3m (1) sft in Nov.
Born Survivor (IRE) 4-1 (11-12) Led until 4 out chased leader until next, weakened 2 out, 4th of 8, 9 1/2l behind Guitar Pete (10-9) at Wetherby 2m 3f hcp lst (1) gs in Nov.
Top Notch (FR) 2-1 (10-12) Led, not fluent and ridden 2 out, not fluent last, soon headed, battled back gamely to lead again towards finish, won at Aintree 2m 4f (2) sft in Nov beating Roksana (10-13) by nk, 5 ran.
Kauto Riko (FR) 66-1 (11-1) Mid-division, lost place before 5 out, never a threat, 8th of 22, 18 3/4l behind Siruh Du Lac (10-11) at Cheltenham 2m 5f hcp (1) gs in Mar.
La Bague Au Roi (FR) 5-2fav (10-10) Held up towards rear, headway 10th, blundered next, chased leader after 5 out, ridden and weakened before 4 out, pulled up, at Wetherby 3m (1) sft in Nov.
