tracked leaders, mistakes, hit 13th, ridden next, soon outpaced and lost touch
in touch, headway to join leader 12th, challenged 4 out, every chance last, no extra towards finish
towards rear, lost touch after 7th, tailed off when pulled up before 11th
not fluent, tailed off from halfway, pulled up before 14th
not fluent towards rear, reminder 7th, soon lost touch, tailed off when pulled up before 14th
A small but competitive field goes to post for this novice chase and Only Once is taken to maintain his unbeaten record. The gelding from the Len Lungo yard was an Irish Point winner and he made a winning debut under rules when defeating Spot The Native. He is sure to have learnt from that experience and he will be hard to beat under similar conditions here. Falchion rates the main danger he was second behind The Rile last time out, however he tends to make mistakes when the pressure is fully applied and this front runner may set the race up for Only Once. Bobayaro was the best of these over hurdles but he has become disappointing over fences and his latest fourth behind Tarbolton Moss leaves him with plenty to find. However these faster conditions should suit. Carnacrack is a course and distance winner of a handicap chase on heavy ground, but he may struggle to give weight away to some less exposed rivals on this much faster ground. Of the remainder Rosalyons is the only other runner that can seriously be considered. He was a fair hurdler on his day but again conditions may not be testing enough for him on this his chase debut.
