led and soon clear, ridden and joined approaching 2 out, soon headed, weakened approaching last
chased clear leader, challenged on bit and led approaching 2 out, pushed clear flat, easily
held up in rear, soon tailed off
prominent, ridden 7th, headway 3 out, ran on one pace from next
held up inrear, hit 6th, ridden and weakened next, soon tailed off, pulled up after 3 out
At the risk of sounding boring, Paul Nicholls has scared away most of the opposition again, this time with Cornish Gale who has just Brookland Lad to beat, with the other three runners seemingly having little or no chance. Cornish Gale reeled off a hat-trick of successes over fences in 2001, but has had his problems since and did not reappear until this February when pulled up at Kempton. However, he was in front when falling at the last at Newbury next time, and despite finishing stone last at Cheltenham on his latest engagement, still has enough ability to get back to winning ways on this return to the smaller obstacles. Brooklands Lad showed improved form to go down narrowly to Quedex at Stratford but off levels that does not look enough to beat Cornish Gale if he is over his problems.
