towards rear, ridden after 4th, effort 5th, weakened next
mid-division, headway approaching 3 out, ridden and every chance last, no extra towards finish
in touch, lost place 3rd, behind from 6th
always behind
chased leaders, hit 4th, ridden approaching 3 out, weakening when hit next
led, hit 4th, ridden approaching 3 out, headed approaching next, weakening when mistake last
held up, headway after 2nd, ridden approaching 3 out, soon weakened
held up, ridden and headway when hung left approaching 3 out, weakened approaching last
soon chasing leader, led approaching 2 out, ridden and headed approaching last, weakened flat
behind, ridden and headway approaching 2 out, led approaching last, stayed on gamely
Napolitain gets the call here ahead of The Local, Dom d'Orgeval and Gone Far. Napolitain formed a very good impression when scoring at Fontwell last time and, with the Paul Nicholls-trained runner having shown promise in his native France before that, he looks tough enough to handle the prevailing conditions on his first step into handicap company. Saint Par was quite highly tried last time and he is a likeable individual, although conceding weight to some promising or interesting types will not make life easy. These include The Local, who is chasing a four-timer and must be granted all due respect, and Dom d'Orgeval, who has himself won three races this season and, as a five-year-old, should still have more to come. Finally, the Martin Pipe-trained Gone Far has form enough to be respected and you can never rule out a good run from that prolific yard. Overall, though, we will side with Napolitain.
