led, ridden approaching 2 out, headed last, not pace of winner
tracked leaders, ridden when blundered 3 out, soon outpaced
tracked leader, mistake 6th, soon dropped rear, weakened quickly next
Monolith has hit form at the right time and can follow up last week's Perth success, with Grand Finale, Glencoyle and Quick expected to make a race of it. Monolith comes to hand at this time of the year, having won twice last season, and having humped a double penalty to victory six days ago, is obviously in fine heart at present. Len Lungo reckons that his inmate is rated high enough over hurdles now and will be looking to send him novice chasing next season. However, the fact that he runs him here suggests that he is confident of another victory. Grand Finale may be suited by this step up in trip, but will find the fast ground against him, while Glencoyle battled hard to score at Plumpton in March and was in mid-division when falling at Ludlow a fortnight ago. Nicky Henderson's charge was favourite that day but it remains to be seen whether that mishap has knocked his confidence. Quick is starting to look badly handicapped on what he has achieved so far, and with Rival Bidder returning from an absence, we return to Monolith to land another victory.