held up in touch, headway 7th, mistake next, ridden after 4 out, led 2 out, headed soon after last, no extra flat
led, headed 6th, led again 8th until headed and not fluent next, ridden after 3 out, soon beaten
in touch, took closer order 8th, every chance when bad mistake 2 out, not recovered
prominent early, lost place 5th, behind 3 out, rallied under pressure after next, led soon after last, ran on strongly flat
in touch and keen, joined leader 3rd, led 6th, headed 8th until led again next, mistake and headed 2 out, soon btn,fell last
A small field, but nevertheless a competitive handicap chase over the minimum trip. Lady Cricket is 5lbs higher than her highest winning mark, which makes this a tough assignment for her, but if any trainer can squeeze further improvement out of her it is Martin Pipe. That said, she is arguably better over two and a half miles and would prefer softer ground than this, though she should still run a decent race here. This is the sort of race that Armaturk should be winning at the weights if he is to contest the Queen Mother Champion Chase later in the season. The five-year-old has some very useful form to his name, though he was a shade disappointing last time and is another who would probably like it softer. One who won't mind the ground is Davoski, who has won on all types and came up with the biggest win of his career at Ascot recently under Tony McCoy. Up 10lbs for that success, he is clearly fit and full of confidence and over his best trip he can defy that rise and gets the TEAMtalk vote to score again. Just Jasmine is a thoroughly consistent performer, who will undoubtedly run her race again. However, she is 6lbs out of the handicap even after the weights have been raised and with that in mind does not look quite up to winning this.
