close up, ridden to lead 2 out, idled towards finish, just held on
led, ridden and headed 2 out, ran on towards finish
prominent and not fluent throughout, ridden 3 out, weakened next
prominent until ridden 3 out
held up, headway 7th, blundered 9th, soon behind
Provocative, Vanda's Choice and Carapuce are shortlisted in this novices' chase and the vote is given to Provocative. The selection won on this track last time on soft ground when beating Carapuce, and he caught the eye with a solid display of jumping. He looks to have a decent future as a chaser and providing he handles this heavy ground he will take plenty of beating. Carapuce has won on heavy ground and although he has a pull in the weights with our selection from their recent run, he looks to have plenty to do to reverse the placings. Vandas Choice should be suited by the step up in trip after winning over 2m at Ayr last time when beating Green Ideal. He acts on easy ground and looks capable of a big run. Jansue Charlie would be interesting if he could get round, but he has failed to complete on each of his last three starts and he can't be backed with any confidence. This could prove to be quite an interesting contest with some potentially nice types in opposition, but for the winner we return to Provocative.
