tracked leaders, reminders 8th, weaken 9th, pulled up before 4 out
held up towards rear, headway on inside 5 out, ridden and outpaced 4 out, rallied flat
tracked leaders, led 9th, ridden and headed 4 out, one pace approaching last
led, ridden 7th, mistake and headed 8th, weakened 4 out, pulled up before 4 out
held up towards rear, hit 7th, headway 8th, led 4 out, ridden approaching last, ridden out
mistake 1st, soon tracking leaders, weakened 4 out
mid-division, ridden and weakened 9th
held up, mistake 3rd, lost place 5th, mistake again 8th, bad blunder 9th, soon tailed off when fell heavily 3 out
A good race in prospect and it will not be surprising to see this go right down to the wire. However, Timmy Murphy looks to be an ideal jockey booking for Idiome and the partnership are marginally preferred over Dun an Doras and Sir Talbot, who are both entitled to be thereabouts at the finish - as is Armen, who will not want for assistance from the saddle with Tony McCoy doing the steering. The Toby Balding-trained Billiverdin is another who holds claims on the best of his form but, in truth, he may be best watched as he sets out on only his second start since April 2002. Therefore, the selection process brings us back to Idiome, who has fared well in his three starts over fences to date. The French-bred gelding is closely matched with Sir Talbot on a line through Old Marsh and there is unlikely to be much between them at the finish if they both give their best today. However, as Idiome has done nothing wrong over fences to date and is expected to be even better now that he tackles this longer trip, he gets the vote. Murphy has made hay in playing a waiting game with some of his mounts this season and the Irishman looks to have been paired off with another willing candidate who will be very hard to fend off when they dash for the line after the last.
