always prominent going well, led approaching 2 out, clear approaching last, easily
prominet, ridden to lead 3 out, headed and weakened approaching next
tracked leader, ridden and weakened 2 out
led, headed 3rd, weakened next, soon behind
blundered 1st, prominent, weakened quickly 4th, tailed off, pulled up before 3 out
in touch, ridden and some headway 3 out, no impression on clear leaders
not jump well in rear, tailed off, pulled up before 3 out
in touch, ridden and weakened after 4th
prominent, led 3rd, ridden and headed approaching 3 out, weakened 2 out
towards rear, ridden 4th, weakened 3 out
mid-division, ridden and weakened 3 out
not jump well 1st, soon in rear
in touch, not fluent 2nd, ridden 3 out, weakened next (5th fence omitted in this and previous race)
Lough Derg gets the vote here ahead of Tragic Ohio and Tin Symphony. The selection won well at Newbury and Warwick in his first two races and was then a good fifth in a Grade 2 event at Cheltenham last time. That sets a fair benchmark for the form of the race and he is unlikely to be a fancy price for this contest. Tragic Ohio won well at Wincanton on his hurdling debut and, with that experience behind him, holds claims again. In that race, he beat Tin Symphony by six lengths but, seeing that the mare is now nine pounds better off at the weights, she too has to be on the shortlist of possibles for this race. Of the others, very few have shown anything in the way of form so far. That said, Lies And Phibbs is nicely-bred for this game and showed some promise in Irish bumpers for Charlie Swan last season and Ojays Alibi was a reasonable third in a similar event at Wincanton last time. Watch the market for clues with regard to the Jonjo O'Neill-trained newcomer Presentingthecase but, overall, it's very hard to get away from Lough Derg and he gets the vote.
