in rear, headway 6th and in touch, hard ridden before 2 out, no chance when mistake last
led until headed approaching 2 out, wandered under pressure before last, one pace flat
prominent, chased leader 5th, led approaching 2 out, not fluent last, ridden out flat
chased leaders until weakened after 5th, tailed off
in rear, lost touch when fell 5th
held up, effort to chase leaders before 2 out, mistake last, kept on one pace flat
held up in touch to 4th, weakened after 5th, tailed off
chased leaders, ridden and weakened after 6th
held up in rear, well behind from 5th, tailed off
This is a fascinating contest and one well worth keeping an eye on. Despite hurdling poorly, Tramantano beat Nas Na Riogh on his debut only to disappoint at Cheltenham next time. Given time to recover from that, this likeable gelding could yet develop into a very useful hurdler, although his penalty does not make life easy. Desert Air (one of two Martin Pipe entries) has solid form (Sud Bleu was third when he won at Taunton) and has to be considered. Nicky Henderson's Bareme was well supported on his debut over c/d ((Fantastic Champion was 13 lengths ahead in second place) but did not hurdle fluently. The fifth that day, Mistanoora - like Tramantano, from the Nigel Twiston-Davies stable - has since gained a good win so tying in formlines after this race will be interesting. Normal improvement would see Bareme win a run-of-the-mill novice event but this one is a pretty decent affair. Jonjo O'Neill's Celtic Dancer is a Sadler's Wells son of Noora Abu, who won the Group 2 10-furlong Pretty Polly Stakes at The Curragh, but he needs to step on his two hurdle efforts so far, even though he has shown promise. A hurdling debutant, Commissar won a nine-furlong maiden at Nottingham in October. Halland Park Lad won over 10f at Windsor in October but did not show enough on his hurdling debut to be strongly considered here. German import Manoram is hard to assess. Nutley King - Martin Pipe's other runner - won twice on the Flat in Ireland and has shown promise in two hurdle runs, but this is tougher. French Mannequin won over 7f on the Flat at Newmarket in June. It's an intriguing contest but the 10lbs that Fantastic Champion is getting from Tramantano could well make the difference and he gets the vote.
