led, stumbled slightly 5th and 3 out, hit pecked and headed last, no extra flat
held up in last pair, closed 11th, went 2nd before 2 out, led last, soon hung right and ridden, drew clear towards finish with head high and ears pricked
chased leader until jumped slowly 8th, dropped to last when hit 12th, soon weakened, tailed off
held up in last pair, nodded on landing and went wrong 9th, pulled up
chased leaders, not fluent 3rd, went 2nd 8th, every chance when stumbled slightly 3 out, 3rd and one pace before 2 out
Fast ground suits RIO LANE , who can overcome Ortega and It's A Roofer. The selection was a fast ground Worcester scorer over two miles in August, and he has been beaten from this 6lbs higher mark on both subsequent starts. However that simplifies the story, which is that soft ground probably found him out at Cartmel next time, and then he unseated while going well enough in second place at Bangor. The step up in trip should help bring about more improvement and we are happy to side with him. Both It's A Roofer's wins have come over similar trips and on fast ground while hurdling, so there are grounds for optimism from Kate Walton, whose gelding has run some decent races in defeat over fences and should not be too long in breaking his chasing duck. Ortega won a Southwell chase over a marathon trip a couple of starts back and this would be his absolute minimum distance, so a good clip will help bring his stamina into play, while High Gliding won an Irish point over three miles at the beginning of the year, but he would have plenty to find judged on his latest Fontwell run. We'll side with Rio Lane to score.
It's A Roofer (IRE) 5-1 (11-4) Chased leader until hit 11th, weakened next, tailed off, last of 9, well behind Perpetuum (10-8) at Sedgefield 2m 4f hcp chs 0-110 (4) gf in Sep.
Rio Laine 11-4 (10-2) Tracked leaders, went 2nd 3rd, jumped left and hit 5th, blundered badly and unseated rider 6th, in a race won by Bright Sparky (10-0) at Bangor 2m 1f hcp chs 0-115 (4) gd, 7 ran.
Ortega (FR) 8-1 (10-7) Always in rear, 5th of 7, well behind Sparkling Montjeu (11-4) at Fakenham 2m 7f nov hcp hdl 0-100 (4) gf in May.
High Gliding (IRE) 16-1 (10-3) Mistake 1st, held up in rear, driven along and outpaced 9th, stayed on from 3 out, kept on into 3rd flat, 3rd of 9, 14l behind Morestead (10-5) at Plumpton 2m 4f nov hcp chs 0-105 (4) gf in Sep.
Feeling Peckish (USA) 12-1 (9-11) Chased leaders, weakened approaching 9th, behind when blundered and unseated rider 4 out, in a race won by Getinbybutonlyjust (11-5) at Cartmel 3m 2f hcp 0-100 (4) hvy in Aug, 10 ran.
