jumped well, made all, fiddled 12th, reached for next, pushed along before 4 out, in command 2 out, clear before last, kept on strongly to go further clear run-in, unchallenged
shade keen, tracked leading pair, 2nd and closed 4 out, held 2 out, soon ridden and no impression, no chance with winner
tracked winner until 4 out, beaten before 2 out, mistake last
NATIVE RIVER produced a solid round of jumping when making all in this last year. He’s only been beaten once in four runs around here and, though unraced since an honourable third in the Gold Cup last March, looks more straightforward than his two rivals. Saphir Du Rheu is a Grade 1 winner over fences but possibly hasn’t quite scaled the heights expected, despite winning four times. He’s been absent since April last year, though that shouldn’t be an excuse. Cloudy Dream has done all of his winning over shorter trips but his second over 3m1f at Aintree has worked out better than expected.
Native River (IRE) 7-2 (11-10) Prominent, led 3rd, headed 7th, led 15th, not fluent 4 out, ridden and headed 2 out, stayed on under pressure flat but no impression on winner, went 2nd towards finish, lost 2nd post, 3rd of 13, 2 3/4l behind Sizing John (11-10) at Cheltenham 3m 2f (1) gd in Mar.
Cloudy Dream (IRE) 9-4jfav (11-3) Not always fluent on first circuit, held up, closed from 10th, went 2nd after 3 out, ridden approaching last, soon beaten, 2nd of 4, 7l behind Definitly Red (11-4) at Aintree 3m 1f (1) hvy in Dec.
Saphir Du Rheu (FR) 16-1 (11-5) Mid-division on outside when blundered badly and unseated rider 11th, at Aintree 4m 2f hcp (1) gs in Apr.
