in touch, headway 6th, led next, ridden out
held up, headway 7th, went 2nd next, ridden and one pace from 3 out
held up, ridden 7th, soon weakened tailed off and pulled up after 8th
held up, not fluent 7th, ridden to go poor 3rd after next
led to 3rd, weakened after 6th
jumped right, prominent, led 3rd to 7th, weakened after next
tracked leaders, ridden after 8th, soon weakened
Shaadiva bids to make up for her latest effort and gets the nod over Lotus des Pictons and Monbonami. Shaadiva may not have beaten much when opening her account over hurdles at Wincanton in November, but made no mistake when hammering the useful Diamant Noir in a mares' only qualifier at Huntingdon next time, clearly suited by the step up in trip. Something must have been amiss at Cheltenham on New Year's Day when she was pulled up behind Redemption, but given a rest since and now back amongst lesser company, Alan King's charge is the one to beat. She gets four pounds from Lotus des Pictons, which will come in handy, but Martin Pipe's challenger is nothing if not consistent and can give the selection most to do. Monbonami reverts to the smaller obstacles on this first outing for Kelly Marks, having scored over fences for Jonjo O'Neill. He did not beat much at Fakenham but this track will suit as he continually jumped to the right on that occasion. Good Lord Louis has not made much progress and is hard to fancy, so Shaadiva really does look the one to beat.
