held up, mistake 12th, steady headway 14th, ridden 4 out, no impression
mistakes, held up, jumped slowly 7th, under pressure 12th, tailed off when pulled up before 15th
led, not fluent 13th, headed 15th, lost 2nd under pressure 4 out, disputing 3rd and well beaten when blundered 2 out
not jump well and tended to jump left, held up, blundered 8th, reminders 10th, blundered and lost touch 13th, tailed off when pulled up before 4 out
chased leader from 4th, led 15th, drew well clear from 2 out, unchallenged, eased flat
in rear, lost touch after 7th, tailed off 9th, pulled up before 11th
in touch until blundered and lost place 12th, well behind from 14th
chased leader to 4th, blundered next, weakened and behind from 13th, tailed off when mistake 3 out
in touch, outpaced and ridden from 15th, soon beaten
Although, by the conditions of the race, none of these chasers have won over fences, it is still a decent event with plenty of decent placed form on show. Henry Daly's Bonus Bridge is bound to be a popular choice with backers having found just the one too good in three of his four starts this term, including when chasing home The Villager at Exeter in January when having Saint Par behind. However, this represents a step up in trip for the eight-year-old and there is no certainty that he will appreciate it. Nicky Henderson's Deoch An Dorais has shown enough to suggest that a race of this nature is within his compass but, with doubts remaining about his jumping, he remains one to be wary of. Former point-to-pointer Even More is open to more improvement over regulation fences but faces a stiff task here. More solid claims are held by the Venetia Williams-trained Wild Spice, who has made steady progression over the larger obstacles and will not mind the faster ground today. The selection though is High Cotton. David Elsworth's gelding has shown improved form over fences this term, running his best race yet last time when fourth in the four-miler at the Cheltenham Festival behind Sudden Shock. Proven over both trip and on the ground, a reproduction of that latest effort should suffice.
