slightly hampered start, led over 7f out, headed just over 2f out, weakened final furlong
half reared leaving stalls, held up in rear, headway on outside over 3f out, every chance over 2f out, stayed on same pace from over 1f out
prominent, chased leader 7ft until over 3f out, soon lost place, rallied on inside over 1f out, weakened inside final furlong
tracked leaders, went 2nd over 3f out, led just over 2f out, hung right when in command final furlong, readily
went slightly right start, led 1f, prominent, ridden and every chance briefly over 2f out, no extra final furlong
The weights of this seller heavily favour HEATHYARDS JUNIOR and Reg Hollinshead's gelding can score from Northern Tour and Ten Pole Tudor. The four-year-old has had only three runs, improving throughout each of them, and scored over course and distance last time from a reasonable sort. That effort prompted a rating of 69 from the assessor and he'd be much worse off with all of these if this were a handicap, so with no concerns over trip, track or well-being, this one will take some beating. Northern Tour comes off second best at the weights and can run well for Paul Cole. This one may not have been suited by Southwell's Fibresand last time, but on his fourth to reliable yardstick Ghufa the handicappers rating of 62 might even look generous and so the market is worth watching. Alan McCabe's yard are going very well but his Pride Of Nation will do well to concede over a stone to all of these, so a bigger threat may come from the inconsistent but relatively capable Ten Pole Tudor. This one has a couple of lengths in hand of Northern Tour on their recent running and also has the beating of Pride Of Nation on a victory back in November, but we're not keen on his slightly in-and-out profile and the percentage call looks to be to oppose. Foxtrot Bravo is in receipt of plenty of weight but he's only achieved one placed effort from eight career starts and looks held, so we'll return to Heathyards Junior who should be capable of going in again.
Pride of Nation (IRE) 12-1 (8-11) Soon held up in touch, lost place and hung right over 2f out, last of 8, 6l behind Bawaardi (9-0) at Wolverhampton 1m 1f app hcp 0-75 (5) pol.
Ten Pole Tudor 12-1 (8-10) Held up, outpaced over 4f out, never dangerous, 6th of 8, 16l behind Transmission (8-13) at Southwell 1m clm stks (6) fbs.
Northern Tour 17-2 (9-5) Slowly into stride and behind, headway to chase leaders over 4f out, ridden over 2f out, soon weakened, 7th of 9, 23l behind Miss Bootylishes (8-9) at Southwell 1m clm stks (6) fbs.
Heathyards Junior 12-1 (9-3) Behind, outpaced over 3f out, headway over 1f out, ran on to lead inside final furlong, ridden out, won at Wolverhampton 1m 1f mdn stks (5) pol in Dec beating Cross Section (8-12) by 1/2l, 13 ran.
Foxtrot Bravo (IRE) 11-2 (9-0) Ran in snatches, in touch until pushed along and struggling final 3f, tailed off, 7th of 8, 35l behind Lyrical Intent (8-8) at Kempton 1m 2f hcp 0-52 (6) pol.
