held up in touch, pushed along from 4th, soon under pressure, lost place next, soon behind, moderate 4th
led, not fluent 4th, ridden and headed after 3 out, weakened next, modest 2nd
tracked leader, ridden and weakened 3 out, modest 3rd
chased leaders, ridden 4 out, soon weakened, behind when pulled up before last
held up in rear, ridden approaching 6th, soon detatched, blundered 4 out, soon pulled up
Nonrunner
The four-year-old AKDAM is tried in blinkers and drops into this grade for the first time. He can recapture the winning thread as he was only beaten half-a-length over 2m3f at Fontwell last time and gets plenty of weight from his older rivals. Tony Carroll also runs Southwell scorer Lac Sacre but Stow may be a bigger danger having made all and won easily at Leicester five days ago under 7lb claimer Josh Wall. Persian Herald was pulled up in that race but did have Monroe Park well behind when winning here in the autumn.
Persian Herald 9-1 (11-5) Chased winner until ridden after 7th, weakening when mistake 3 out, pulled up before 2 out, in a race won by Stow (10-11) at Leicester 2m 4f sell hdl (5) sft in Dec, 8 ran.
County Zen (FR) 16-1 (11-2) In touch on outside, lost place after 3rd, soon behind, tailed off, last of 9, well behind White Diamond (11-2) at Fakenham 2m hcp hdl 0-105 (4) gs in Dec.
Stow 11-4fav (10-11) Made all, not fluent 3rd, clear approaching 3 out, mistake last, unchallenged, won at Leicester 2m 4f sell hdl (5) sft in Dec beating Going Wrong (10-12) by 15l, 8 ran.
Monroe Park (IRE) 100-1 (10-7) Chased leaders, weakened 7th where mistake, tailed off, 8th of 10, well behind Belle De Fontenay (11-5) at Leicester 2m 4f sell (5) gs in Dec.
Safe Investment (USA) 16-1 (11-5) Always in rear, tailed off from 11th, 6th of 7, well behind Midnight Charmer (10-3) at Fakenham 2m 5f hcp 0-100 (5) gd in Oct.
Good As New 50-1 (8-0) Tracked leader, lost place over 3f out, soon behind, tailed off, last of 8, well behind Monzino (9-0) at Wolverhampton 1m 4f hcp (0-65) (6) pol in Dec (flat).
Lac Sacre (FR) 6-5fav (10-7) Held up 4th and last in touch, headway 6th, challenged going well on outside 3 out, led on bit between last 2, pushed out flat, won at Southwell 2m cnd/am sll hdl (5) gs in Dec beating Juno The Muffinman (10-9) by 2 1/2l, 4 ran.
Akdam (IRE) 6-1 (11-7) Chased leaders, led approaching 2 out, ridden and joined last, headed and not quicken final 100 yards, 2nd of 7, 1/2l behind Vandross (10-9) at Fontwell 2m 2f 3yo hdl (4) hvy in Dec.
