led and keen, headed narrowly approaching 4th, remained close up, blundered 11th, regained lead 13th, headed 2 out, soon beaten
tracked leader and keen, hit 11th and 12th, chased leader after 3 out, led 2 out, soon clear
in touch in 4th, joined leaders 13th, a close 2nd when blundered 3 out, soon weakened
held up in rear, pecked 2nd, not fluent 10th, soon reminder, hit next, weakened when pulled up before 5 out
tracked leaders, led narrowly approaching 4th, hit 8th, hit and headed 13th, blundered 5 out, weakened after next, hit 3 out
SWINCOMBE ROCK impressed on his first try over fences and can win again. With a (probably flattering) official rating of 135 Nigel Twiston-Davies' charge should be able to stamp his class on the race. The runner-up at Perth has franked the form by winning since and he can appreciate the step into novice grade. Canticle knew where the winning line was in point-to-points, but a bigger threat might be Ravenclaw. He always looked a chaser in-the-making in a short hurdling career and was sent off at 5/2 at Stratford on his debut over fences, only to be pulled-up after breaking a blood vessel. Silver Bay has more experience over fences but his rating of 110 leaves him with plenty of improvement to find from somewhere, and along with Pheidias, who has not always been fluent at his fences, is readily opposed.
Pheidias (IRE) 6-1 (11-12) Not always fluent in rear, reminders after 6th, mistake and more reminders 10th, hampered approaching 4 out, weakened next, 5th of 7, 32l behind City Heights (11-9) at Stratford 2m 5f nov hcp chs 0-120 (3) gf in Jul.
Swincombe Rock 11-10fav (11-12) Held up mid-division, headway approaching 8th, hit next, challenged 4 out, led next, stayed on well from last, eased towards finish, won at Perth 2m 4f hcp chs 0-120 (3) sft in Sep beating King Roonah (11-7) by 14l, 9 ran.
Canticle 8-11 (11-7) won at Garthorpe 3m ptp gd in Mar beating Pleasure Shared (12-0) by 20l, 8 ran.
Ravenclaw (IRE) 5-2 (10-13) Took keen hold, prominent, no impression after 3 out, weakened after next, demoted to 4th when pulled up before last, in a race won by Cootehill (11-6) at Stratford 2m 4f nov chs (4) gf in Sep, 6 ran.
Silver Bay 14-1 (11-0) Tracked leadrers, not fluent 9th, pressing leaders 4 out until 2 out, weakened last, 5th of 12, 14l behind Mont Present (11-0) at Worcester 2m 7f beg chase (4) gd in May.
