prominent, with leader 9th, left in lead 11th, headed 13th, ridden and soon weakened, pulled up lame and dismounted before last
mid-division, headway 7th, mistake 12th, blundered 14th, tailed off and pulled up before 4 out
held up last, headway approaching 12th, led 13th, ridden 3 out, headed approaching 2 out, weaken last
led, blundered, headed and lost iron 11th, weaken 14th
chased leader, mistake 8th and reminders, mistake 10th, tailed off and pulled up before 14th
held up towards rear, headway 11th, ridden and outpaced approaching 4 out, stayed on one pace from 2 out
prominent, ridden and lost place 8th, tailed off and pulled up before 14th
This looks to be a good opportunity for Muck Savage to add to his recent course win, with Silver Birch likely to be his closest pursuer. The Charlie Mann-trained selection goes well enough on soft ground, but with conditions expected to dry a little that will be even more in his favour. A one length defeat of Supreme Prince over three miles here on his penultimate start is easily the best form on offer here and after an abortive attempt in higher company last time out, he should be comfortably good enough to land this. Silver Birch makes his chasing debut here, but coming from the Paul Nicholls yard he is sure to have been well prepared. A winner of two hurdles with plenty of cut in the ground last season, he will not want it to dry out too much, and he looks like giving the selection most to do. The rest look an ordinary bunch, the best of which could be Parisian Storm, who was in the process of running a decent race when unseating four out at Towcester last time and could make the frame, but the confident vote here goes to Muck Savage.
