led, blundered 13th, ridden and headed when hit 4 out, 3rd 3 out, blundered and beaten 2 out,
close 3rd on inside, not fluent 9th, hit 4 out, chased winner from 3 out, mistake and beaten last
tracked leader, challenged 13th, led 4 out, ridden approaching 2 out, stayed on well to come clear from alst
Be There In Five comes out best at the weights here, but with a second at Southwell his best effort in three starts over fences so far he has yet to convince over the larger obstacles. Alderluck ploughed through the mud at Plumpton to open his account over fences last month when beating subsequent winner Fruity O'Rooney, but the likely faster ground here could swing things SQUADRON's way. Alan King's charge kept on well to see off the challenge of previous winner Rear Gunner at Huntingdon last time and is taken to follow-up with further improvement on the cards.
Alderluck (IRE) 5-4fav (10-12) Raced keenly, made most and kept slight advantage until narrowly headed 10th, pressed leader, mistake 13th, mistake 2 out, driven to challenge before last, led soon after, stayed on gamely flat, won at Plumpton 3m 2f nov chs (3) hvy in Feb beating Fruity O'Rooney (11-4) by 2 1/4l, 5 ran.
Squadron 4-1 (11-12) Tracked leaders, jumped slowly 4th, went 2nd after 3 out, led approaching last, stayed on well, won at Huntingdon 3m nov hcp chs (0-125) (3) gs in Feb beating Rear Gunner (11-11) by 3 1/2l, 8 ran.
Be There In Five (IRE) 4-6fav (11-0) Prominent, jumped slowly 1st, not fluent next, ridden 4 out, soon outpaced, weakening when hit 3 out, went left 2 out, went badly left and only just got over last, stopped to stand still and lost 3rd, hacked home, tailed off, last of 5, well behind Quo Video (11-0) at Market Rasen 2m 6f beg chase (4) gs in Jan.
