tracked leaders, led 4th, ran out 6th
held up in touch, headway to lead approaching 9th, ridden approaching last, stayed on strongly
led, jumped slowly 3rd, headed next, left in lead 6th, reminders 7th, headed approaching 9th, ridden next, weakened 2 out
tracked leaders, struggling and dropped rear halfway, soon lost touch
held up, headway to chase winner after 3 out, ridden and effort between last two, one-paced under pressure
An uninspiring opener for which it is hard to look beyond the TEAMtalk selection, Florries Son. The Martin Todhunter-trained gelding shaped with considerable promise on his sole previous start when a close second over two and a half miles in similar company here in late April. The seven-year-old should have no difficulty with the step up in trip and would not need to be cherry ripe to collect from poor rivals. Nisbet failed to make an impact on his hurdling bow at Perth in June and is passed over in favour of Fifteen Reds to fill the forecast position. The latter was far from disgraced over an inadequate trip at Sedgefield earlier in the week and a reproduction would give him place claims.
