held up in rear, slow 10th, detached when jumped slowly 12th, soon tailed off and pulled up
held up, hard driven and headway after 3 out, soon chasing leaders, weakened next
mid-division, went badly wrong and pulled up quickly 11th
prominent, led 5th, headed 8th, led again 14th, headed 18th, under pressure 3 out, gradually weakened
tracked leaders, under pressure 18th, soon lost place, rallied under pressure approaching last, never able to challenge
led until 5th, led again 8th, headed 14th, led again 18th, clear 2 out, stayed on strongly
in touch, jumped left 3rd, jumped slowly 5th, headway 14th, jumped slowly next, weakened 4 out
mid-division, headway 4 out, soon chasing leaders, effort approaching 2nd last, soon weakened
Tom George's Kilbeggan Blade should appreciate the underfoot conditions but needs to improve dramatically from his reappearance run at Aintree in October to trouble the judge and a better bet looks to be RUSSIAN TRIGGER, who gets the vote over Never So Blue. The eight-year-old put up a career best effort on heavy ground when successful at Haydock at the beginning of last month and the Venetia Williams-trained gelding has to be respected despite having to race off a 9lb higher mark today. Hennessy won well here when last seen in April when trained by Carl Llewellyn. Now in the care of Warren Greatrex, he has to be considered but is probably better on a faster surface and may be best watched along with Irish Raptor, who has yet to prove his effectiveness on ground this soft. Richard Newland's Lorum Leader won well at Market Rasen last month and has every chance off an 8lb higher mark today but a better bet looks to be Russian Trigger. Victor Dartnell's gelding showed progressive form last term, made a highly satisfactory reappearance when a close fourth behind Galant Nuit in a decent race at Cheltenham and, on ground that suits, he is hard to oppose.
Rambling Minster 66-1 (11-7) Always behind, struggling from 9th, 6th of 7, well behind Kauto Star (11-7) at Haydock 3m Grade 1 chs (1) sft in Nov.
Hoo La Baloo (FR) 7-1 (11-5) Held up, headway 12th, chased leaders approaching 5 out, weakened from next, tailed off, 7th of 11, 49l behind Beat The Boys (10-8) at Chepstow 3m hcp chs 0-150 (2) gd in Oct.
Russian Trigger 6-1 (11-0) Mistakes in mid-division, hit 14th and 16th, blundered and lost place 17th, headway after 4 out to chase leaders 2 out, one pace before last, 4th of 12, 4l behind Galant Nuit (10-0) at Cheltenham 3m 3f Grade 3 hcp chs (4yo+) (1) sft in Nov.
Irish Raptor (IRE) 5-1 (11-2) Led until blundered badly and unseated 2nd, in a race won by Vic Venturi (11-12) at Aintree 3m 2f list hcp ch (1) sft in Nov, 8 ran.
Kilbeggan Blade 14-1 (11-8) Led to 3rd, chased leaders, lost place approaching 11th, tailed off, 5th of 9, well behind Lysander (9-13) at Aintree 3m 1f hcp chs 0-145 (2) gd in Oct.
Eric's Charm (FR) 50-1 (10-13) Held up mid-division, weakened 5 out, soon beaten, 14th of 18, well behind Ellerslie George (10-2) at Wincanton 3m 1f listed hcp chs (1) gs in Nov.
Never So Blue (FR) 9-1 (10-13) Chased leaders, blundered 14th, outpaced approaching 3 out, no impression after, 4th of 15, 34l behind Razor Royale (11-1) at Cheltenham 3m am hcp chs 0-140 (2) gs in Nov.
Lorum Leader (IRE) 14-1 (11-5) Tracked leaders, headway to lead 5 out, kept on from 3 out, ridden clear flat, won at Market Rasen 3m 1f hcp chs 0-120 (3) hvy in Nov beating Shrewd Investor (11-1) by 5l, 8 ran.
Hennessy (IRE) 13-2 (10-7) Led until 3rd, chased leaders, mistake 14th, ridden after 15th, not fluent 18th, 10 lengths 4th last, stayed on strongly, led near finish, won at Sandown 3m 5f hcp chs G3 (1) gd in Apr beating Briery Fox (10-1) by nk, 14 ran.
