held up in rear, awkward 5th, some headway on inside when fell 3 out
chased leaders, 3rd and one pace from 3 out, weakened into 4th next
badly hampered 1st, held up in last pair, some headway on outside when hit 3 out, soon weakened
badly hampered and unseated rider 1st
tracked leaders, went left 8th, went 2nd before 3 out, stayed on same pace from next
led, jumped badly left and badly hampered rivals 1st, pushed along approaching 7th, ridden and headed before 3 out, plugged on in 3rd from 2 out
mostly jumped well, tracked leader, challenged 4 out, led before next, clear when hit 2 out, ridden out
Shady Oaks and Knockmaole Boy have experience over fences though neither has won and the chasing newcomers are preferred. Point-to-point winner Youracert also won a maiden hurdle last year while Green Or Black landed a handicap over timber last summer and is 5lb higher. Ferrobin has tumbled down the weights since winning a novice hurdle but THIBAULT made a winning reappearance in 2019 when successful in a handicap hurdle at Huntingdon and Kim Bailey’s charge gets the speculative vote.
Knockmaole Boy (IRE) 100-1 (9-6) Prominent, effort over 2f out, weakened over 1f out, last of 11, 9 3/4l behind Hieronymus (9-9) at Kempton 7f hcp (6) pol in Feb.
Youracert (IRE) 5-1 (11-7) Chased clear leading pair until ridden and weakened 2 out, 8th of 9, dist behind Fearless (11-1) at Market Rasen 2m 1f (4) gs in Mar.
Green Or Black (IRE) 6-1 (11-12) Mid-division, tracked leaders 3 out, effort to challenge between last 2, one pace before last, ridden and kept on flat, no impression, 4th of 11, 7l behind Darling Du Large (11-1) at Hereford 2m hcp (4) gd in Nov.
Ferrobin (IRE) 12-1 (11-12) Held up in rear, never threatened, 6th of 10, 19 3/4l behind Eddiemaurice (11-12) at Newbury 2m hcp (4) hvy in Jan.
Thibault 13-2 (11-6) Held up mid-division, pushed along and progress after 3 out, weakened 2 out, 4th of 13, 20l behind Mason Jar (11-13) at Ascot 2m 3f hcp (4) gs in Nov.
Shady Oaks (IRE) 9-1 (11-1) Tracked leaders, quickly weakened before 4 out, soon pulled up, at Southwell 2m hcp (3) sft in Dec.
Lord Condi (IRE) 20-1 (11-3) Tended to jump right, last, jumped slowly 2nd, not fluent 10th, outpaced 13th, pecked 15th, losing touch when pulled up after 4 out, at Fontwell 3m 2f hcp (4) sft in Dec.
