held up towards rear, headway and in touch 3 out, soon ridden and kept on one pace
held up towards rear, blundered and unseated rider 4th
tracked leaders, ridden and weakened from 3 out
made all, shaken up from last, kept on well
tracked leaders, ridden and weakened from 3 out
behind, lost place after 5th and soon beaten
Tribal Dispute sets the standard on latest evidence and should take the beating, with Moscow Dancer and Sardagna his main market rivals. Tribal Dispute was a bit headstrong as a youngster but has settled down since being sent chasing. His first few outings told us little as he just seemed to do enough when scoring at Sedgefield and Kelso, but it was his latest performance at the Borders track that stamped Tim Easterby's charge as one to follow. Giving a stone away to the odds-on Escompteur, he beat Martin Pipe's runner with a great deal of authority, and will surely take all the beating here if in the same sort of mood. Moscow Dancer finished last of six behind the selection at Kelso in April but has since improved to win twice over fences thanks to his trainer sorting out a viral problem. However he still has a mountain to climb to turn the tables. We can assume that Sardagna is not as good as Escompteur as she is rated about 10lb inferior, so Pipe in all probability will be foiled again, and a bigger danger may be Kid'z'play, an all-the-way winner twice here over hurdles and sure to have been well schooled by Jim Goldie. Tribal Dispute is going from strength-to-strength though and will take all the beating.
