led and not fluent 1st, tracked leader after, mistake 3rd, not fluent and lost place 9th, soon beaten
led after 1st, jumped left throughout, hard ridden and strongly challenged after 2 out, headed last, no extra
tracked leaders, under pressure approaching 3 out, soon no impression
held up in 4th, mistakes 3rd and 8th, progress to track leader after next, led on bit last, soon clear, impressive
PEPE SIMO made too many mistakes on his chasing debut at Fontwell in September when eventually pulled up but Paul Nicholls will have worked on the gelding since then and he is likely to be too classy for his rivals today so gets the vote to open his account over the larger obstacles in a race that should not take much winning. Gary Moore's Lord Singer is capable over hurdles but would probably prefer more testing going, while Fahrisee is likely to do better now switched to fences but needs to improve on all known form to trouble the selection. The five-year-old Marc Aurele was well held first time up at Warwick and looks best left out of calculations.
Fahrisee (IRE) 6-4fav (11-8) Tracked leaders, chased winner approaching 2 out, driven to challenge winner flat, no impression near finish, 2nd of 9, 1 3/4l behind Cloudy Spirit (10-5) at Market Rasen 2m 1f nov hdl (4) gd in Mar.
Lord Singer (FR) 10-3 (11-8) Held up in rear, lost touch and struggling before 3 out, tailed off, 6th of 7, well behind Olympian (11-2) at Plumpton 2m hcp hdl 0-125 (3) hvy in Apr.
Marc Aurele (IRE) 25-1 (10-10) Chased leader, led before 3rd, headed 5th, chased leader until next, dropped to 5th at 8th, stayed on same pace from 3 out, 5th of 7, 15l behind Darby's Turn (11-1) at Warwick 2m nov chs (3) gd.
Pepe Simo (IRE) 8-15fav (11-4) Blunderd 1st, held up off the pace, bad mistake 5th, closed after 7th, shaken up approaching 3 out, soon eased and pulled up, in a race won by Harry Tricker (11-4) at Fontwell 2m 2f beg chs (4) gd in Sep, 6 ran.
