pulled hard in rear, headway approaching 4th, ridden and weakened 3 out, poor 3rd when blundered next
pulled up towards rear, headway after 4th, weakened next
made all, kept on well, ridden out
held up towards rear, headway after 4th, soon ridden, went poor 4th last
chased winner, ridden approaching 2 out, stayed on
in touch, lost place quickly and pulled up after 3rd
always towards rear, tailed off
in touch until 4th, soon weakened, tailed off
chased leaders until 3rd, soon weakened, tailed off
chased winner, mistake 4 out, weakened
King Soloman gets the confident vote in the finale, with Before The Mast and Patches the best of the rest. The selection was third behind Kercebellec at Warwick last month, but a reproduction of that effort should be good enough to see him home here. He jumped a bit novicey on that day, but with nominal improvement he will take a good deal of beating. Before The Mast looks the main danger but he was pulled-up after pulling too hard behind Dempsey at Folkestone last month. He is clearly not the most straightforward of characters so is opposed for that reason, but if he is in the mood he would certainly not be too far away at the finish. Patches is the other interesting runner in the field as this hurdling debutant from the Paul Nicholls yard looks a well bred individual and his trainer does well in this sphere, so any market support could be significant. It would be a surprise if any of the others were good enough, so we give King Solomon the confident vote.
