prominent early, held up in main group, headway on inside 3 out, led narrowly when hit next, headed narrowly last, ridden and every chance flat, no extra and held towards finish
led to after 1st, disputed 2nd behind clear leader, headway before 3 out, soon pushed along to challenge, led narrowly last, ridden and kept on under pressure flat, asserted towards finish
held up in main group, headway before 3 out, soon challenged, every chance next, ridden and one pace before last, no impression with front pair flat, lost 3rd near finish
disputed 2nd behind clear leader, ridden and close up 3 out, outpaced after next, soon behind, weakened before last
held up in rear, headway on wide outside before 3 out, soon prominent, every chance next, ridden and unable to quicken before last, well held flat
keen to post, pulled hard, led after 1st, clear to before 3 out, blundered and headed next, outpaced in 5th between last 2, driven and kept on flat, took 3rd near finish
Cracker Factory has only been beaten once in five starts over timber, all on good ground, and though his jumping could be better the stiff track will be in his favour. Quel Destin, a winner in France, was having only his second start for Paul Nicholls when gaining a facile victory at Kempton though he has much more to do here. He was beaten by the debut-maker MONTESTREL at Chepstow earlier and Jane Williams' half-brother to four winners should certainly improve so gets the vote. Never Adapt has a superb pedigree for jumping and was very impressive when scoring at Compiegne on heavy ground in March though the form has worked out poorly while Katpoli overcame numerous mistakes to score at Huntingdon and won't get away with them here.
Cracker Factory 7-4fav (10-12) Tracked leader, hit 3rd, led going well 3 out, clear before last, easily, won at Wetherby 2m lst (1) gd in Nov beating Chief Justice (11-1) by 7l, 8 ran.
Quel Destin (FR) (11-8) Led until before 3rd, led 3 out, soon headed, led again 2 out, clear before last, easily, won at Kempton 2m (3) gd in Oct beating Ghost Serge (11-4) by 12l, 6 ran.
Katpoli (FR) 13-8fav (10-12) Tracked clear leader and keen, closer before 4th, challenged 3 out, soon led, clear when went left and hit 2 out, went left again last, won at Huntingdon 2m (4) gd in Nov beating Oi The Clubb Oi's (10-12) by 6l, 7 ran.
Montestrel (FR) 20-1 (10-12) Jumped well, tracked leader, edging left from between last 2, good jump last, quickened to lead run-in, ran on well, won at Chepstow 2m (4) gs in Oct beating Quel Destin (11-4) by 1 1/2l, 9 ran.
Needs To Be Seen (FR) 7-2 (10-12) In touch, headway before 3 out, led before 2 out, kept on strongly, won at Musselburgh 2m (4) gf in Nov beating Frame Rate (10-12) by 6l, 6 ran.
Never Adapt (FR) (10-5) won at Compiegne 2m sft in Mar beating Fearless Lady (10-5) by 10l, 14 ran.
Il Re Di Nessuno (FR) (8-11) last of 8, dist behind Henry Mouth (9-0) at San Siro 1m 4f gd in Jun.
