held up towards rear, pushed along over 3f out, ridden and headway over 1f out, stayed on to press for 2nd close home
close up, pushed along over 3f out, weakened 2f out
led early, tracked winner, ridden 3f out, faded inside final furlong
keen made most, soon clear with one other, reduced lead 10f out, pushed along over 2f out, ridden out
tracked clear leaders, closed 10f out, pushed along 3f out, ridden to chase winner over 2f out, no impression final furlong, just held on to 2nd
led into start, always in rear
It was testing ground when Reshoun won over today’s trip at Haydock last year and he remains 5lb higher. Quloob was a progressive three-year-old but nothing has gone right since and he’s undergone a wind-op since last in action. Winning hurdler Gumball has won both starts on the all-weather this year and goes handicapping on the Flat for the first time. He’s rated much higher over jumps than Scaramanga while both Medburn Cutler and Mancini are better over further. But this longer trip should not be a problem for FLINTROCK (NAP) having been beaten only a length over 1m4f last month on his first start since June. Andrew Balding’s charge has the most scope of these and is expected to go very close with that outing under his belt.
Reshoun (FR) 8-1 (9-6) Towards rear, ridden and headway over 1f out, no impression final furlong, 7th of 10, 2 1/4l behind Spark Plug (9-6) at Kempton 1m 4f lst stks (1) pol in Dec.
Quloob 8-1 (9-2) Held up mid-division, weakened 2f out, 12th of 16, 11 1/4l behind Stratum (8-12) at Newbury 2m hcp (2) gf in Jul.
Mancini 11-2 (9-12) Led, pushed along and headed 3f out, weakened over 1f out, 10th of 12, 14 3/4l behind What A Welcome (10-0) at Ascot 2m hcp (3) gd in Oct.
Gumball (FR) 5-6fav (9-8) Led 2f, tracked leader, ridden to lead narrowly approaching final furlong, asserted close home, won at Lingfield 1m 4f stks (5) pol in Mar beating Allieyf (9-0) by 1 1/4l, 8 ran.
Scaramanga (IRE) 11-4fav (11-6) Mid-division, headway to chase leaders 3 out, hampered and lost place approaching bend before 2 out, soon rallied, chased easy winner after last, never able to challenge, 2nd of 15, 2 1/2l behind Legal History (10-4) at Ascot 2m hcp fll (2) gd in Mar.
Flintrock (GER) 7-1 (9-3) Dwelt in touch towards rear, ridden and headway over 1f out, soon chased winner, one pace and lost 2 places towards finish, 4th of 9, 1l behind Al Kout (9-7) at Kempton 1m 4f hcp (4) pol in Mar.
Medburn Cutler 10-1 (8-9) Led, pushed along and headed over 4f out, weakened tamely over 3f out, soon eased, tailed off, 6th of 7, dist behind Coeur Blimey (8-12) at Newbury 2m 2f hcp (2) sft in Apr.