held up, headway 5th, blundered 7th, soon weakened
tracked leader, led 2nd, headed next, ridden after 3 out, soon weakened
tracked leaders, hit 4th, ridden and every chance approaching 2 out, kept on
led to 2nd, led again next, ridden and under pressure approaching 2 out, all out flat
held up, tracked leaders halfway, ridden 3 out, no impression from next
Just six go here and we can narrow our options down further by ruling out La Colina who is an out and out stayer and is the sort to go for the four-miler at the Cheltenham Festival. Birotex Boy does not look good enough and Centaur Express would appear to be too high in the weights. Night Fighter was pulled up over fences here in August and then ran a fair race when runner-up over hurdles at Perth last time. Not great form, but he is entitled to be in the shake-up. Spilaw gained his first victory in this country when landing an amateurs chase at Folkestone last season, and has winning form over fences in France. He has the ability, but does not make as much appeal as Corletto who gets the TEAMtalk vote. Tom George's five-year-old, a a winner on the Flat in Poland, took a while to acclimatise but hit form in the spring, with victories over hurdles at Taunton and Hereford. Sent chasing this term, Corletto showed his inexperience when third at Plumpton, but improved when second to How Ran On in the Stan James Handicap Chase at Warwick last time. He overcame a mistake at the first to warm to his task and was staying on well at the finish. He will come into his own over a longer trip but does not have a great deal to beat here and should open his account over fences.
