led, headed approaching 3 out, weakened approaching last
chased leader, led approaching 3 out, headed after last, one pace
held up in touch, weakened approaching 3 out
held up in rear, mistake 3rd, headway after 3 out, led after last, kept on well
held up, blundered 4 out, ridden approaching next, weakened approaching 2 out
tracked leaders, mistake 5th, badly bumped next, pulled up before 7th
Le Burf is preferred to Scotland Yard and Majorca. Only 2lbs separates five of the six runners in this field on official ratings so this could be tricky. The one that's adrift is Farmer's Lad but it would be no surprise if he were to make a better chaser than hurdler and his yard is going well. Scotland Yard has an Arkle entry and has always been well regarded. He showed a reasonable level of form over hurdles and is sure to have been well schooled. However, he lacks experience and may prefer a quicker surface. Chaninbar is better than he showed last time but of more interest is Majorca who beat all bar a progressive individual on his penultimate start and looks to have more to offer over fences but he's another who would ideally prefer the conditions to continue to dry out. That may be enough to hand the advantage to Le Burf who has been keeping better company than this to date over fences. He's run well enough in the circumstances and, now that his sights have been lowered, Le Burf can get off the mark.
Farmer's Lad (IRE) 7-1 (10-6) Towards rear, headway after 4th, weakened 2 out, 6th of 13, 23l behind Stradbrook (11-4) at Folkestone 2m 1f hcp hdl 0-115 (4) hvy in Jan.
Le Burf (FR) 25-1 (10-12) Held up 4th, headway 8th, hit 4 out, soon ridden, no chance with leading pair from next, 3rd of 4, well behind Big Buck's (11-1) at Newbury 2m 1f nov chs (3) sft in Jan.
Le Corvee (IRE) 9-2 (11-0) Tracked leader, led 2 out, headed last, ridden and kept on flat, 2nd of 5, 2 1/2l behind Pseudonym (11-0) at Doncaster 2m 3f beg chs (3) gf in Dec.
Majorca 7-2 (11-0) Held up, close up 3rd when blundered and unseated rider 3 out in race won by Shares (10-8) at Musselburgh 2m hcp chs 0-125 (3) gs in Dec, 6 ran.
Chaninbar (FR) 8-1 (10-8) Mid-division, jumped right 3rd, ridden 8th, soon beaten, 7th of 12, 27l behind Climate Change (11-0) at Ludlow 2m beg chs (4) gd in Jan.
Scotland Yard (UAE) 11-4jt-fav (11-5) Tracked leader, led 5th, headed after 3 out, soon outpaced, beaten when mistake last, 5th of 13, 26l behind La Grande Villez (11-7) at Market Rasen 2m 3f hcp hdl 0-120 (3) gd in Aug.
