held in in touch and jumped left throughout, chased leader 5th, ridden and lost place 10th, eased 11th, stayed on one pace past beaten horses from 4 out
made all and soon clear, pushed along 10th, ridden 4 out, hit 2 out, driven out flat
held up towards rear, lost touch 10th, pulled before 12th
held up towards rear, headway and chased leader after 4th, not fluent 4 out, every chance and still going well 3 out, ridden approaching 2 out, ran on well flat
held up last, blundered badly and unseated rider 6th
chased leader and ridden and lost touch 13th, one pace
prominent, lost place 4th, no impression
A smashing novices' chase in which the vote goes to Comply Or Die ahead of First Ballot, but this is an interesting line-up The selection is rated by Martin Pipe as his leading Royal & SunAlliance Chase hope and, despite finding Ollie Magern to good for him on his seasonal return at Cheltenham, he still performed well and looks the one to beat here. First Ballot has looked very good in racking up four straight novice chase wins and rates as stern opposition to Comply Or Die. By Degree was a good second to Willie John Daly on his chasing bow, while Distant Thunder has always seemed the type to do well over fences, Red River Rebel has shown plenty of promise in hurdles and rates an interesting recruit, as does River Ross, who beat him him in a novices' hurdle at Chepstow last season. However, they are pitched in pretty deep here and will be doing well to get the better of Martin Pipe's Comply Or Die, who gets the vote.
