pulled hard early and chased leader, ridden and outpaced 3 out, headway to lead on bit approaching 2 out, pushed clear approaching last, easy
pulled hard early, led after 2nd, jinked left and jumped very slowly 3rd, mistake 4th, ridden 3 out, headway approaching 2 out, stayed on under pressure to go 2nd after last
held up in mid-division, ridden 3 out, soon weakened
prominent, ridden after 5th, weakened approaching 2 out
keen hold and led before 3rd, mistake 3 out and headed, ridden and weakened after
held up in mid-division, good headway after 3 out, ridden and went 2nd approaching 2 out, mistake last, not quickened after
pulled hard and held up last, tailed off 3 out
prominent, led 3 out, ridden and headed approaching 2 out, one pace from last
held up in mid-division, ridden after 3 out, soon weakened, behind and pulled up before 2 out
in touch, ridden after 3 out, weakened 2 out
Trouble At Bay put a disappointing debut effort over hurdles behind him when winning at Hereford last month and is fancied to follow up here at the main expense of Croix De Guerre and the Martin Pipe-trained pair of Yourman and Bella Bambina. The selection, a useful middle distance handicapper on the flat, failed to run to expectation son his first start over hurdles at Kempton but put that behind him with an accomplished display against, admittedly, poor opposition at Hereford. Croix De Guerre was not as good as the selection on the level but has gone to Philip Hobbs and has to be respected but a bigger threat may come from one of the Pipe runners. Yourman, a son of Shernazar, makes his racecourse debut for owner David Johnson, while Bella Bambina showed plenty of promise on her hurdling debut at Ludlow and should have learned from that. Sue Wilton's Crimson Dancer was a long way behind Trouble At Bay at Hereford and, along with the rest of these, is likely to be so again.
