held up in touch, headway 4 out, challenged 3 out, led approaching 2 out, headed and mistake last
keen hold and held at last, blundered 7th and 9th, ridden and headway 3 out, took poor third flat
mid-division, mistakes, ridden and weakened 8th, no impression
held up in mid-division, mistakes 3rd, ridden 8th and weakened, behind and mistake 2 out
chased leader, challenged and led 8th, headed approaching 2 out, rallied and led last, driven out
prominent, mistake 7th, ridden and mistake 4 out, not recover
led to 8th, ridden after 4 out, soon weakened
An interesting novices' chase here including a few debutantes and some out of form sorts, but the vote goes to Intox III to hold off the challenge of one of those chasing debutantes Master George, and Knight Of Silver. Tony McCoy's mount was as good as most of these over hurdles, rated just over 100 and also has a run over fences under his belt, albeit a resounding defeat. Nevertheless, he enjoys both the course and the trip, has the champion on board and is perhaps the only one of the leading lights here who is at home on fastish ground, so he gets the vote. Master George was rated as high as 125 over timber after a heavy ground Ascot win in November last year, but has failed to live up to that reputation since. Always one who looked likely to shape into a good chaser, he will have been well schooled and if he jumps well then he will clearly be a major threat, but he will not find it easy to shake off the Pipe-trained runner and may have to use this as part of his education. Meanwhile Knight Of Silver comes here for his chasing debut on the back of a confidence-boosting success over the hurdles course here last time. He would be well behind the other two over hurdles though, so unless fences galvanise major improvement, he should only be chasing them for third prize. The vote here though, goes to Intox III.
