held up and keen, went second 9th to 11th, soon ridden, weakened quickly, behind when pulled up before 4 out
tracked leader from 2nd, led 5th, ridden and headed and jumped right from 4 out, no extra flat
tracked leaders, pushed along 9th, pecked 11th, soon weakened
left in lead 2nd, headed 5th, tracked leader 9th to 11th, led 4 out, jumped right last, all out
always behind, lost touch 6th, took poor 3rd approaching last
led, blundered and unseated rider 2nd
Many of the runners have yet to recapture their form and that leaves the path clear for Punchy who gets the vote here. He¿s tumbled down the weights in recent times and took advantage of that fact when beating King Of Mommur after a lengthy spell out of action. Martin Pipe sees fit to run him with a 7lb penalty before the handicapper can reassess is rating and a repeat performance of last week will see him go very close. Half An Hour deserves a mention as he has been running with credit of late, but the fact that he has failed to get into the winners enclosure in over a year suggests that he is not weighted to win just yet. Bill Owen has a nice racing weight and he does come good at this time of year as indicated when winning at Fontwell in August of last year. His two runs this season were not without credit and could figure as an each-way selection here. However Punchy is taken to defy his penalty and land the new combination of Murphy and Pipe another winner.
