hampered 1st, left well in rear, tailed off when refused 13th
mid-division, 3rd when blundered badly 12th, pulled up after
chased leader, led 9th, clear 12th, unchallenged, eased flat
left in lead 1st, jumped left from 3rd, jumped badly left, headed 9th, lost touch from 12th
led until fell 1st
hampered 1st, in touch until reminder 11th, beaten when blundered badly 13th, soon behind, refused 2 out
brought down at 1st
Never So Blue was a very comfortable scorer at Hereford on Tuesday and Venetia Williams' charge looks more than capable of defying a penalty to land this opener at the main expense of Chimichurri and Give Me Love. The selection gets similar ground here to that which he encountered the other day and is worth a try back at this sort of trip as he certainly wasn't stopping at Hereford. Venetia Williams has her string in great form and she can grab another winner here. Chimichurri is another trying to defy a penalty after a 20/1 success at Towcester last month. He hasn't yet convinced over trips beyond 2m, but that is not to say that now he has hit form he won't be able to stay, so we anticipate another decent run. Give Me Love won in soft ground and over a similar trip at Chepstow last year and loves soft ground but he has never won when fresh and he comes here after a 270 day absence so he is opposed. Celtic Major will see out every yard and more of this and may make them all go from the front but preference is for Never So Blue.
He's The Boss (IRE) 14-1 (11-2) Chased winner until fell in race won by Papini (11-2) at Ascot 2m 3f beg chs (3) gf in Nov, 8 ran.
Give Me Love (FR) 5-1 (11-9) Held up mid-division, headway when hit 3 out, one pace, 4th of 9, 20l behind Alam (11-5) at Market Rasen 2m 2f hcp chs 0-105 (4) sft in Mar.
Never So Blue (FR) 5-4fav (11-9) Tracked leaders, led 3 out, clear last, easily, won at Hereford 2m nov hcp chs 0-95 (5) gs beating Musical Gift (10-13) by 7l, 11 ran.
Chimichurri (FR) 20-1 (11-5) Led 2nd, pushed clear before 3 out, challenged and jumped left last, soon headed, rallied and kept on strongly to lead close home, won at Towcester 2m cnd hcp chs (5) sft in Nov beating Narval D'avelot (10-0) by a nk, 11 ran.
Celtic Major (IRE) 14-1 (10-12) Led until 5th, led again 7th, headed after next, ridden 3 out, no chance after, 4th of 16, 12l behind Blue Splash (11-3) at Chepstow 3m hcp hdl 0-125 (3) gs in Nov.
Opportunity Knocks 15-2 (11-0) Towards rear, lost touch 7th and pulled up at the 9th in race won by Algenon (11-0) at N Abbot 2m 5f chs (5) sft in Jun, 12 ran.
Iaskofyou (IRE) 33-1 (10-1) Held up behind, headway after 9th, chased leaders 5 out, soon ridden, weakened next, no chance when hampered last, 4th of 11, well behind Arceye (10-1) at Chepstow 2m 3f sll hcp chs 0-90 (5) gd in Nov.
