held up in touch, headway 8th and tracked leader, led on bit approaching 2 out, pushed clear approaching last, eased flat
led, mistake 6th, ridden 4 out, headed approaching 2 out, soon weakened
tracked leader, blundered 8th, ridden and weakened 9th
held up towards rear, lost place and ridden 6th, pulled up before 8th
held up in mid-division, ridden approaching 9th, weaken 3 out
Selberry is gradually slipping to a fair mark but has given little sign of encouragement of late and preference is for Bronzesmith, who gets the vote over the consistent pair of Jupon Vert and Sol Music. The selection was winning for the first time in over two-and-a-half years when landing a novices' chase at Hereford last week in decisive fashion and, with conditions again to suit, he is taken to follow up. The Ron Hodges-trained Jupon Vert has been running consistently well off a similar mark all year without much success and may again have to settle for a minor role. Former hunter Sol Music reverts to handicap-company for the first time and could be interesting off his current mark, while Nowator ran promisingly on his chase debut recently and hails from a stable in form. Dual Star looks out of his depth in a race that is taken to go to Bronzesmith.
