jumped badly right throughout, led, headed soon after 2 out, driven soon after, weakened between last 2
tracked leader, challenged, jumped right 2 out, soon led, pressed last, kept on well run-in
tracked leading pair, headway on inside, upsides winner last, stumbled soon after, hung left, no impression run-in
always last, ridden after 3 out, soon lost touch, eased, tailed off
Nobelix gets a narrow vote over Lead On and Self Respect in the opener on the card. Just the four runners line up here, but it promises to be quite a tight affair between the top three, with preference just for Nobelix. James Fanshawe's charge was all at sea on heavy ground at Haydock when last seen, but had earlier looked a most progressive sort when scoring at Leicester and Kempton. Rested since his Haydock exertions, and with ground to suit, he gets the nod with Tony McCoy in the saddle. Lead On has solid form, having just been touched off by Special Envoy at Newbury in March, and he should not mind the ground at all, while Self Respect was another that floundered on testing going when pulled up behind Overstrand at Sandown in December. He has to give 4lb away to the other two main contenders, and all in all we would rather side with Nobelix, on this occasion at least.
Self Respect (USA) 7-1 (11-0) In touch, ridden approaching 3 out, soon weakened and pulled up 2 out in race won by Overstrand (10-5) at Sandown 2m lst hcp hdl (1) hvy in Dec, 17 ran.
Lead On (IRE) 9-2 (11-6) In touch, headway to chase winner between last 2, every chance last, strong challenge flat, just held, 2nd of 18, nk behind Special Envoy (11-6) at Newbury 2m nov hdl (4) gs in Mar.
Nobelix (IRE) 16-1 (11-8) Held up and raced wide, lost place after 4 out, 7th of 8, well behind Amaretto Rose (11-1) at Haydock 2m nov hdl Grd 2 (1) hvy in Jan.
Sotelo 25-1 (11-0) Mid-division, ridden and weakened 4 out, 13th of 17, well behind Tritonix (11-5) at Warwick 2m nov hdl (4) gd in Mar.
