held up, ridden and headway over 2f out, not clear run just over 1f out, soon switched left, stayed on not reach winner
outpaced, ridden and headway over 1f out, ran on inside final furlong, nearest at finish
held up, headway when stumbled over 3f out, ridden over 2f out, no extra inside final furlong
prominent, led 3f out, ridden over 2f out, edged right and headed over 1f out, weakened inside final furlong
soon outpaced, ridden and headway over 2f out, led over 1f out, edged left inside final furlong, ran on
led 3f, soon ridden, weakened over 1f out
chased leaders, ridden over 3f out, weakened final furlong
prominent, led 4f out to 3f out, soon ridden, weakened over 1f out
Port Natal gets our vote here ahead of Hellbent, Waltzing Wizard and Its Ecco Boy. Looking at the field: Up Tempo has a very good chance on his Turf form of last summer and all-weather efforts of a year ago. A possible downside is that he has not raced for 109 days though. Repeat looks worth opposing on his third run in nine days, his victory in seller just over a week ago is nothing to write home about. Chorus also lacks a previous run and is untried at this trip. While Waltzing Wizard is fairly-handicapped on his winning Turf form of 2002 and ran very well at Southwell last time. His only previous run at Dunstall Park, admittedly, was not auspicious but he comes here in good heart and is entitled to go well. Muqarrar and Its Ecco Boy are closely weighted based on their course and distance runs here on November 21. The latter needs to be produced late as he sometimes finds little under pressure but is entitled to have his supporters and his in-form young rider has done well on him before. Lord Chamberlain is an 11-year-old with one career win to his name and we feel that he'll be done for toe by some of the others. It would be no surprise to see the well-bred Hellbent run well from Jamie Osborne's stable. He showed promise on only his second run at Lingfield in December 2002 but then incurred an injury. He ran quite well, all things considered, on his Southwell return in mid-December and would not have to be out of the ordinary to go close here. Watch the betting market for clues. Aintnecessarilyso is well-handicapped on his winning Turf form of the summer of 2001 but has been beaten fairly recently in sellers off his current mark. This leaves us with the selection of Port Natal, who won a four-year-olds and upwards handicap at Thurles in October 2003 from a mark of 38. He is now rated 40 for his British debut but his useful rider can claim three pounds. All things considered, he looks worth taking a chance on - particularly if there is money for him.
