held up, headway approaching 3 out, led and jumped right 2 out, clear when jumped right last, ran on
prominent, not fluent 2nd, lost place 5th, ridden and not fluent 7th, no danger after
held up in touch, mistake 5th, left in lead 7th, ridden and headed 2 out, switched left approaching last, no impression on winner
led until mistake, bumped and fell 8th
in touch, headway to join leaders when stumbled 6th, left in 2nd 8th, ridden and weakened 2 out
held up, headway approaching 5th, ridden and weakened 3 out, tailed off
chased leader until badly hampered 8th, no chance after, tailed off
Jonanaud has a fitness advantage over his main rivals and that may be enough to see the John Manners-trained gelding get the better of Razzamatazz and Tribal Dancer. The last mentioned ended last season in winning form over fences at Ludlow and the Venetia Williams-trained gelding has to be respected off the same mark back over hurdles today. However, lack of a recent outing and more importantly the cut in the ground are of concern and of more interest may be Razzamatazz. Rob Dickin's gelding is less exposed than most of these and could be interesting on his debut in a handicap. Keepers Mead and Sword Lady are both capable of taking a hand and make more appeal than Little Rort but the vote goes to Jonanaud. The John Manners-trained gelding was not disgraced in a better race than this on his return and is taken to make the most of his fitness advantage.
