tracked rival pair throughout, driven and outpaced before 2 out, kept on, no chance before last
tracked winner, challenged and upsides after 4 out, ridden to lead 2 out, not fluent last, headed narrowly flat, kept on, just held
travelled well, led, reached for 4 out, joined soon after, headed when blundered 2 out, ridden and stayed on to regain narrow lead flat, just held on
NonRunner
A few of these have scope for improvement now going handicapping. Magic Dancer was second in the Lingfield Derby Trial on the Flat last spring and has only found one too good in his last two starts over hurdles. Red Hammer was second in a maiden hurdle over course and distance earlier this month while Big McIntosh beat Consortium by 10 lengths here in October and is only 4lb worse off. The latter is trained by Neil King, who also runs COSMIC STATESMAN. He ran well when placed at Wetherby and Catterick at the end of last year and, fit from a campaign on the all-weather, can get off the mark over timber today. Blackfire has Richard Johnson doing the steering but is more exposed than his rivals.
Blackfire (FR) 25-1 (11-4) Tracked leader, led 3 out, headed before next, no extra closing stages, 6th of 7, dist behind Bingo D'olivate (11-6) at Newbury 2m hcp (4) sft in Mar.
Magic Dancer 7-1 (10-7) Keen held up, headway to track leaders 5th, ridden 2 out, kept on to go 2nd flat, 2nd of 13, 15l behind Gwafa (11-4) at Fakenham 2m mdn (4) sft in Jan.
Red Hammer 5-4jfav (10-10) Held up towards rear, pulled hard, headway to lead before not fluent 4th, ridden approaching last, edged left and headed flat, no extra towards finish, 2nd of 7, 2 3/4l behind Centurius (11-4) at Huntingdon 2m mdn (4) sft in Mar.
Big McIntosh (IRE) 150-1 (11-0) Led, headed after 3 out, soon lost place, behind from next, tailed off, last of 15, dist behind Ivanovich Gorbatov (11-0) at Cheltenham 2m 1f (1) gd in Mar.
Consortium (IRE) 9-4fav (9-1) Tracked leaders, hard driven over 3f out, every chance over 1f out, led approaching final furlong, headed closing stages, kept on, 2nd of 8, 1 3/4l behind Next Edition (8-12) at Wolverhampton 2m 1f hcp (5) pol in Mar.
Cosmic Statesman 7-1 (9-2) Close up, ridden edged left and headway entering final furlong, ran on, 4th of 11, 1 1/2l behind Sonnythenavigator (9-1) at Lingfield 2m hcp (6) pol in Jan.
