Trip and ground should be ideal for BOUGOURE, who gets the nod ahead of Master Builder in this small field beginners' chase. The Sue Smith-trained selection relishes bottomless ground and this sort of trip and also goes well at the track. He has gone close on a couple of occasions in his eight starts over fences and with the yard going quite well he should be fit enough to do himself justice on this, his seasonal return. Master Builder is another proven heavy ground performer and his stamina is beyond question, having already won over further than this when hurdling. He has not been seen to best effect in three chases so far, but you wouldn't be surprised if he showed an improvement in form today. Aston Lad has shown little to inspire confidence for quite some time, and Linlithgow Lad is very hard to assess but would be interesting if backed. Without that knowledge Bougoure gets the vote.
Aston Lad 50-1 (10-11) Towards rear, ridden after 9th, soon beaten, 7th of 12, 36l behind Auroras Encore (11-0) at Sedgefield 2m 4f beg chs (4) sft in Dec.
Bougoure (IRE) 12-1 (11-1) Held up, headway to join leader 10th, led before 3 out, hit last, soon headed and weakened, 4th of 8, 8l behind My Turn Now (11-6) at Market Rasen 2m 6f nov chs (2) gd in Sept.
Linlithgow Lad 66-1 (11-7) Led, headed 10th, soon outpaced, weakened 3 out, 7th of 12, well behind Oaklands Luis (11-9) at Catterick 3m 1f nov hts chs (6) gf in Mar.
Master Builder (FR) 5-1 (10-13) Held up in rear, weakened from 4 out, 3rd of 7, well behind Morgan Be (11-7) at Ayr 3m 1f hcp chs 0-130 (3) hvy in Jan.
