held up, headway 3 out, ridden approaching next, soon weakened
raced wide, chased leader, lost place approaching 3 out, railled on inside 2 out, edged left and led flat, stayed on
held up, headway 5th, ridden approaching 2 out, one pace flat
raced wide, held up, ridden 3 out, weakened approaching last
in touch, lost place approaching 3 out, soon behind
chased leaders, led 3 out, ridden next, hit last, headed and no extra flat
led, hit 2nd, ridden and headed 3 out, weakened quickly, behind when pulled up before next
With Pirandello running at Ascot on Friday his participation must be in doubt, so a chance is taken with Be My Friend to atone for his fall in a chase here last time. Heather Dalton's chestnut has suffered with a couple of stress fractures in his younger days and rewarded connections patience when running out a wide margin winner at Bangor in the spring. He is a fine big sort who looks every inch a chaser and it was no surprise to see him switched to the larger obstacles on his reappearance earlier this month. However, he was too fresh for his own good and paid the penalty at the second fence in the straight having given the previous one a nudge. None the worse for that soft fall, connections have decided to take advantage of what looks a decent mark for this return to hurdling and with the yard in such good form (three winners and three placed from the last nine runners), he gets the vote. Gabor advertised his well being at the last meeting here and the runner-up has since run well in defeat when touched of by the well-handicapped Minster Glory who was completing a hat-trick. He looks sure to go well off a 7lbs higher mark. Forest Tune and Sharmy are closely matched on their run here last year where two-and-a half-lengths separated them. With just the four outings over timber there may be more to come from Forest Tune and he can come out on top this time. Perouse was well beaten of this mark last time and may need some help from the Handicapper, so in receipt of weight off all of his rivals, Be My Friend is taken to come out on top.
