behind in touch, chased leaders 8th, ridden and hit 10th, soon weakened
behind, blundered 2nd, lost touch 7th, soon well behind
close up, challenging and hit 3 out, hard ridden and held when hit last
led, headed 3rd, lost touch 8th, soon tailed off and pulled up before 2 out
in touch, blundered 5th and 7th, headway 2 out, disputed lead last, ran on well flat to lead towards finish, all out
Cenkos has been a revelation in recent seasons but faces no easy task giving weight to two in-form last time out winners here in the shape of Got One Too and Bleu Superbe, with the vote just going to Nicky Henderson's gelding. Got One Too was the lesser fancied of two Henderson horses for a similar contest at Cheltenham last week but made light work of the opposition pulling clear of Tysou to score by 18 lengths. Admittedly the six-year-old may have been flattered by the margin of victory as Santenay looked to be going well enough to mount a challenge when falling two out, although it is debatable whether he would have beaten the winner. A 9lb rise for that success is perfectly fair though and he looks worth a bet to follow up. The Venetia Williams-trained Bleu Superbe put some disappointing efforts behind him when making most to score over course and distance last month and has an obvious chance off a 9lb higher mark. However, he is unlikely to be able to dominate this field in the same way and a bigger threat may come from Cenkos. The Paul Nicholls-trained gelding does not know how to run a bad race but has plenty of weight to carry and that may be enough to stop him. Martin Pipe's Upgrade and Mark Pitman's Hot Shots both have it to do to beat Bleu Superbe from a handicapping point of view and with Kandjar d'Allier looking nothing out of the ordinary, this is probably best left to Got One Too.
