held up in touch, ridden and headway 4f out, chased leaders 2f out, one-paced and no impression
tracked leaders, headway 4f out, ridden over 2f out, stayed on same pace
held up in rear, ridden 4f out, headway 3f out, no impression final 2
tracked winner, ridden over 3f out, weakened final 2
made all, ran wide 6f out on home bend, quickened 3f out, ran on strongly
took keen hold, held up in touch, ridden and headway on outer 3f out, chased winner over 1f out, kept on no impression
This looks a good opportunity for Trouble Mountain to finally regain the winning thread at the expense of Field Spark and Albinus. Mick Easterby's seven-year-old has been well handicapped this season but for some reason has tended to find one or two rivals who are on the upgrade. His most recent effort at Redcar last time when just getting pipped by Olivia Rose is very strong form in the context of this event and an overdue success looks a strong possibility. Field Spark bounced back to form with a hard fought victory at Leicester last time but the handicapper may just have his measure. So a bigger threat to the selection could be Andrew Balding's Albinus who had some decent types behind when finishing runner up to Etmaam in a classified event at Bath. Add to the mix recent winner Royal Melbourne and you have quite a competitive race, but we believe Trouble Mountain should be up to the task and he gets our vote.
