mid-division, headway 13th, mistake next, soon chasing leaders, weakened approaching 2 out
held up in rear, headway 5 out, chased leaders and mistake next, soon beaten
held up mid-division, weakened 13th
tracked winner, jumped right 5th, every chance from 4 out, held when mistake last, no extra
made all, hard ridden and unchallenged from 4 out, stayed on well under pressure
held up mid-division, headway 5 out, chased leaders 3 out, stayed on to take 3rd, never able to challenge
tracked leaders, hard driven 4 out, weakened next
tracked leaders, jumped slowly 7th, under pressure halfway, soon beaten
held up towards rear, not fluent 11th, soon beaten
A very moderate contest where stakes should be kept to a minimum and holes can be picked in the form of all the nine declared runners, with the selection going the way of INSTANT SHOT. Jim Goldie's seven-year-old acts well with cut in the ground and went well over 2m 4f at Newcastle last time. Although unproven over this far, his pedigree offers some hope, as does this easy circuit, and with his trainer's runners here always to be respected we will side with him. Rusty Red is an interesting opponent. Chris Grant's charge has won over this far on testing ground in Ireland, and at his best would be good enough to win this. However, he has clearly had problems in recent seasons and has not seen much of the racecourse. If he is over those issues and there is some market confidence it would probably be significant. Cute N You Know It will stay this trip, but although she does handle softer ground, she definitely appears better on a faster surface so we'll take her on. Manoubi appears reasonably well-handicapped from today's mark and acts with cut, so he has to be of some interest despite not winning for going on three years, but with little else appealing we'll tentatively suggest Instant Shot for success.
Rusty Red (IRE) 28-1 (10-3) Held up mid-division, blundered 9th, weakened next, 9th of 11, 45l behind Percutant (11-8) at Musselburgh 3m hcp hdl 0-120 (3) gf in Mar.
Skipping Chapel 100-1 (10-11) In rear, struggling 7th, soon lost touch, tailed off when pulled up before 2 out, in a race won by Diamond Frontier (11-0) at Newcastle 2m beg chase (4) sft, 7 ran.
Manoubi 11-2 (11-8) Held up, weakened from 3 out, 10th of 15, well behind Treehouse (11-2) at Hexham 3m 1f hcp 0-90 (5) hvy in Dec.
Cute N You Know It 12-1 (10-6) Made most until 4 out, weakened 3 out, 6th of 7, well behind Peters Star (10-7) at Haydock 3m 1f cond hcp hdl 0-1115 (4) hvy in Nov.
Copper's Gold (IRE) 8-1 (10-12) Led to 10th, chased winner, lost place, 5 out, soon weakened, 6th of 7, 42l behind Its Teescomponents (11-3) at Newcastle 3m hcp 0-100 (4) gs in Nov.
Shulmin 33-1 (10-10) Held up, weakened 3 out, 8th of 15, 44l behind Treehouse (11-2) at Hexham 3m 1f hcp 0-90 (5) hvy in Dec.
Instant Shot (IRE) 16-1 (10-8) In touch, ridden to chase winner 4 out, rallied and every chance between last 2, kept on, held flat, 2nd of 12, 2 1/4l behind Toy Gun (11-8) at Newcastle 2m 4f hcp chs 0-90 (5) sft.
Witch Power 5-2 (11-12) Led 4; clr 2 out; ro wl flat, won at Alnwick 3m ptp in Apr beating Risk Assesment (12-5) by 4l, 8 ran.
Ellandshe (IRE) 16-1 (9-10) Always behind, tailed off 4 out, 6th of 12, well behind Toy Gun (11-8) at Newcastle 2m 4f hcp chs 0-90 (5) sft.
