held up, not fluent 12th, headway approaching 4 out, ridden after 2 out, ran on well flat
held up in touch, not fluent 3rd, headway 5 out, ridden and weakened 3 out
held up, blundered 2nd, mistake 5 out, soon weakened
led, headed approaching 11th, weakened after 5 out, mistake next
held up, headway after 5 out, ridden and weakened after next
always prominent, ridden 3 out, kept on well flat
chased leader, led approaching 11th, headed 3 out, soon ridden, weakened approaching last
in touch, hit 1st, headway and not fluent 11th, led 3 out, clear last, idled flat, ridden out
Granted a clean round of jumping, Keen Leader should be too classy for his rivals here and gets the vote over Sir Rembrandt and Irish Hussar. The last mentioned was talked of as a possible Gold Cup horse prior to his reappearance here in November but Nicky Henderson's gelding lacked fluency in his jumping that day and was eventually pulled up. He needs to put in a better round here. Similar comments apply to Sir Rembrandt who looked a chaser to follow when scoring in the Rehearsal Chase but who disappointed with his jumping in the Pillar Chase at Cheltenham last time. Keen Leader has also had his jumping problems but when he gets it right, as in Haydock's Tommy Whittle Chase last time, he is one of the best chasers around. In the hope that Jonjo O'Neill's gelding has his jumping boots on today, he gets the vote. On official ratings, Seebald looks the pick of Martin Pipe's trio but he is not certain to get the trip and of more interest may be Hours as Shooting Light is likely to need this en-route to a crack at the Grand National. Neither Shardam nor Royal Auclair look good to trouble Keen Leader, who should be able to justify likely odds if he can put in a clear round.
