led to 10th, led again 11th, ridden and headed 3 out, soon weakened
keen, tracked leaders, ridden to lead 2 out, headed and not quicken towards finish
keen, in touch, lost place 8th, behind when mistake 11th, tailed off and pulled up
tracked leader, led 10th to 11th, ridden and hit 2 out, weakening when jumped badly right last
held up and keen, headway after 11th, led 3 out, ridden and headed 2 out, rallied to regain lead towards finish
This appears to revolve around Six Of One and Why The Long Face, with Co Optimist the one most likely to benefit should any mishaps befall his main rivals. Six Of One, with the better recent form, just gets the vote as the main hope today. The Richard Rowe-trained gelding has a series of near misses to his name and deserves a change of fortune. The step up in trip is very much in his favour and, with conditions to his liking, he has plenty in his favour. Why The Long Face has ability but has been out of sorts recently. Nevertheless, he will be hard to overhaul if he can recapture the sparkle he showed in the summer and is dangerous to dismiss. The Richard Guest team have started to turn the corner lately and, as he is now 2lb lower in the weights than he was when winning at Hexham in June, he does not have too much to find in this company. Co Optimist almost certainly needed the run on his reappearance at Sedgefield in October and can be forgiven that effort. However, the fact that he has been off since then is a little off-putting and, in the absence of a solid indication for the betting market, he is probably best watched. Therefore, with all things considered, the race-fit Six Of One looks to be the percentage call and he can finally add to his tally if all goes well here.
