keen, led after 1st, soon clear, mistake 5th, clear again 3 out, hit last, easily
held up mid-division, headway after 6th to track leaders, went 2nd 2 out, always held
held up, headway 4th, ridden approaching 3 out, soon one pace
in touch to 4th, ridden 6th, never dangerous
led to 1st, tracked leaders till ridden approaching 2 out, weakened approaching last
towards rear and mistakes, never a factor
not jumped well, soon well in rear, tailed off when pulled up before 3 out
soon well behind
A seller to get us under way here and Gregorian should be good enough to defy a 7lb penalty for winning a similar race recently and follow up, with Pierre Du Forez the most interesting of the others. The John O'Shea-trained selection will still have to decent effort to land this prize, but is well in with virtually all of his rivals on official ratings and with a sounder surface here he will also benefit, and can add to his recent seven length Leicester success. Pierre Du Forez could be the fly in the ointment, coming here as he does after a three and a half year absence. The six-year-old landed a three runner claimer in France when last seen out and translating Longchamp form to Ludlow is clearly not easy. However, Martin Pipe clearly thinks enough of him to give him a try here and knowing his trainer he is likely to be straight enough, so any market moves for him should be watched carefully. Prince Dimitri would have a clear chance on his best form, but he has failed to show that since April last year and is on the downgrade, and so Magical Day, who has gone off the boil slightly after some good autumn performances, could well be best of the rest. For the selection though, we will stick with Gregorian.
