made most, guessed at 2nd, jumped right 4th and 10th, headed 3 out, strong challenge before last, stayed on, held close home
held up, not always fluent, struggling after 4 out, went modest 3rd close home
tracked leader, led briefly 2nd, lost 2nd 9th, not fluent 10th, 2nd again after 4 out, led 3 out, not fluent 2 out, hard pressed, stayed on, in command close home
tracked leaders, closed 8th, went 2nd 9th until after 4 out, 3rd and beaten 3 out, soon weakened
Le Rocher wasn’t entirely convincing at Warwick having been left to come home alone on his chasing bow at Exeter. He has scope for further improvement but THREE MUSKETEERS beat better rivals in this last year and has only run once over fences since - the cheekpieces are back on and he can stage an encore. Tomngerry fell on his chasing debut at Catterick while French import Bialco is best watched on his first start for new connections.
Three Musketeers (IRE) 16-1 (10-10) Mid-division on outside, pushed along after 7th, soon behind, weakened after 4 out, tailed off, 9th of 16, dist behind Sam Spinner (10-9) at Haydock 2m 7f hcp (1) hvy in Nov.
Bialco (FR) (11-4) 7th of 15, 9 1/2l behind Bandit D'ainay (10-3) at Auteuil 2m 1f hcp gd in Oct.
Le Rocher (FR) 1-10fav (11-6) Tracked leader, led after 2nd to 4th, tracked leader, virtually upsides 12th until not fluent 3 out, driven to challenge next, stayed on under pressure to lead closing stages, won at Warwick 2m (4) hvy in Dec beating Royal Act (11-0) by 2 1/4l, 3 ran.
Tomngerry (IRE) 6-4 (11-2) Tracked leaders in 3rd, went 2nd before 8 out, mistake 7 out, fell 5 out, at Catterick 3m 1f (3) gs in Dec.
