chased leader, mistake 1st and 2nd, prominent, mistake 9th, joined leader 17th, ridden and led before 4 out, pecked landing, hard ridden and ran on gamely from 2 out
led, ridden and headed before 4 out, switched left approaching 2 out, rallied approaching last, ran on well flat
held up last, mistake 11th, lost touch 14th, jumped left 15th, soon tailed off, pulled up before 3 out
prominent, chased leader after 3rd, lost touch with leader 14th, behind when mistake 2 out
held up towards rear, lost place before 15th, soon behind
Royal & SunAlliance Chase hope Fork Lightning will be a warm order here, and gets the vote over Silver Birch. The Alan King-trained eight-year-old has always been highly regarded and, judged on the way he gave leading"Sun Alliance" contender Lord Sam a scare last time out at Kempton, he is clearly a major player here. The Paul Nicholls-trained Silver Birch is progressing all the time, a view endorsed by his win at Chepstow last time. Of the others, Lord Broadway was unlucky to be disqualified for taking the wrong course at Towcester last time, having won there the time before. However, much as he seems to have got his act together now, he needs to find a lot more improvement to trouble the principals. The other pair, including the Nicky Henderson-trained Wilberforce, have shown very little under Rules so are hard to fancy. This leads us back to Fork Lightning, who gets the vote.
