steadied start keen, held up, headway to lead over 11f out, soon clear, reduced lead 7f out, pushed along over 3f out, ridden and headed over 2f out, weakened final furlong
keen held in touch in rear, headway to chase leaders over 2f out, ridden to lead entering final furlong, headed towards finish
set very steady pace, headed over 11f out, tracked clear leader, closed 7f out, ridden to lead over 2f out, headed entering final furlong, rallied gamely to lead again towards finish
pulled hard in touch in rear, ridden 4f out, kept on one pace final 2f
raced wide tracked leaders, pushed along over 4f out, ridden and kept on one pace final 2f
NonRunner
It's just a year ago that OUR CHANNEL landed a Listed race at Kempton taking him onto a mark of 103. He'd dropped to 92 now but is still well clear on official ratings and should be too good for these. Soiesauvage, a very easy winner in France on heavy ground last April, was bought for hurdling but has shown nothing so far and though the veteran King Olav has been in excellent form his last victory was in a seller and he's facing stronger rivals here. Luv U Whatever has a tremendous strike-rate on the all-weather but he's another who landed a seller last time though he could hardly have won more easily. El Campeon is rated 20lb lower than the selection and only receives 2lb.
Our Channel (USA) 4-1 (9-7) Led, pushed along over 2f out, ridden and headed over 1f out, weakened final furlong, 5th of 6, 7 1/4l behind Abareeq (8-8) at Kempton 1m 2f hcp (2) pol in Mar.
El Campeon 11-1 (9-6) Keen towards rear, edged left and headway over 1f out, nearest finish, 5th of 10, 5 3/4l behind Midtech Star (9-10) at Wolverhampton 1m 6f hcp (4) pol in Mar.
Luv U Whatever 4-11fav (8-13) Raced wide tracked leaders, led halfway, clear 3f out, comfortable, won at Southwell 1m 4f stks (6) pol in Mar beating Paris Bound (8-11) by 8l, 5 ran.
Soiesauvage (FR) 11-10fav (10-10) Took keen hold, led, clear before 2nd until next, headed when not fluent 2 out, 5th and no extra last, 5th of 8, 9 3/4l behind Tangley (10-10) at Wincanton 1m 7f (4) sft in Mar.
King Olav (UAE) 8-1 (10-3) Tracked leaders, 2nd over 3f out, led inside final 3f, ridden clear well over 1f out, stayed on strongly, won at Lingfield 2m hcp (6) pol in Jan beating Ryan The Giant (8-11) by 6l, 10 ran.
Oratorio's Joy (IRE) 8-1 (9-12) Slowly into stride, chased leaders, headway to track leader after 7f, hard driven over 2f out, kept on same pace final furlong, 3rd of 4, 5l behind Monjeni (9-2) at Wolverhampton 1m 6f hcp (5) pol in Mar.