held up in rear, ridden before 3 out, soon outpaced, 5 lengths down in 3rd approaching last, kept into 2nd close home, no match for winner
led, tended to jump right, mistake 11th, slightly hampered rival 3 out, soon pressed for lead and ridden, disputed lead 2 out, soon headed, 4 lengths down approaching last, weakened into 3rd close home
chased leader, slightly hampered by rival 3 out, soon pressed leader, travelling best when disputed lead 2 out, soon pushed along and led, 4 lengths clear approaching last where not fluent, pushed out run-in, not extended
The Hanlon team raid with Dragon Rock, a former Willie Mullins inmate. The Shantou gelding is very lightly-raced and goes chasing after just three hurdling runs, the best of which was a Tramore maiden hurdle win for the champion trainer. Brian Hughes is booked but he's hard to fathom and POTTLERATH (NAP) makes more appeal after landing a couple of decent handicap chases of late. He's improved on a race-by-race basis over fences and can continue his upward trend. Inishbiggle is a triple scorer over hurdles but hasn't completed in two chase starts on the back of a 400-day absence and still has to concede the selection 10lb.
Dragon Rock (IRE) 40-1 (11-5) Always towards rear, pushed along after 5 out, no impression, 4th of 5, 27l behind Joyeux Machin (11-5) at Wexford 3m gd in May.
Inishbiggle (IRE) 5-1 (11-12) Chased leaders, not fluent 4th or 8th, went 2nd 13th, ridden after 3 out, looked beaten when fell 2 out, at Bangor-on-Dee 3m hcp (4) gd in May.
Pottlerath (IRE) 11-8fav (12-0) Held up in rear, headway 9th, not fluent 12th, headway 15th, went 2nd from 16th, led before 2 out, driven out, won at Warwick 3m 1f hcp (5) gd in May beating Marettimo (12-2) by 1l, 5 ran.
