led, ridden and headed approaching final furlong, no extra
held up, pushed along halfway, switched left to outer over 2f out, strong run to chase winner inside final furlong, just held
chased leaders, ridden and ran on to lead approaching final furlong, driven and held on near finish
chased leaders, ridden 2f out, soon weakened
soon pushed along on rear, no chance from halfway
went left at start, soon recovered to chase leader, driven and every chance approaching final furlong, soon hung left under pressure, no extra inside final furlong
Richard Hannon complicates matters by saddling three of the seven runners but none of the trio of Oro Verde, Vienna's Boy or Presto Shinko makes as much appeal as Molcon, who gets the verdict. Neville Callaghan's gelding looked unlikely to get a run at Ascot last time but was produced in time by Johnny Murtagh to land a more competitive contest than this by half-a-length from Ask The Clerk. A 4lb rise for that is perfectly fair and the son of Danetime is taken to follow up with Dominic Fox on board taking off a valuable 5lbs. Presto Shinko had little chance from a bad draw at Chester earlier in the week and makes marginally more appeal than the other two Hannon runners, while of the remainder, Jamie Osborne's Morse is becoming expensive to follow and a bigger threat may come from Star Pupil. The latter hails from a stable beginning to hit form but he needs to improve to trouble Molcon, who is taken to follow up his Ascot success.