held up, never dangerous, tailed off from 3 out
chased leaders, ridden approaching 3 out, soon weakened
chased leaders, mistake and badly hampered 5th, soon recovered, ridden approaching 2 out, weakening when left 4th last
never fluent, always behind, tailed off
held up, steady progress from 3 out, every chance last, ridden and found little, 3rd and held when hampered close home
chased leaders, left 2nd after 5th, ridden 3 out, soon weakened
led until 2nd, tracked leader until pulled up immediately after 5th
held up in touch, headway 3 out, soon ridden, weakened after next
mid-division, ridden and headway after 2 out, strong run flat, hung left close home, not reach winner
led 2nd, ridden after 2 out, stayed on well under pressure, all out
chased leaders until 5th, soon outpaced
held up in touch, took closer order 4th, ridden to chase winner 3 out, disputing 3rd when fell last
Marki, running in the colours of JP McManus and trained by Thierry Doumen is a very interesting newcomer and should be watched closely in the market, but on this occasion we will go with the form horse and that is Moonstream, with Lion Hunter also expected to go close. The selection is trained by Nicky Henderson and this dual bumper winner made a very pleasing start to his hurdling career when chasing home Only Vintage over course and distance last month. That was only his third ever racecourse visit and so should be capable of more improvement. Lion Hunter was a decent handicapper on the flat and showed plenty of promise on his hurdling bow here behind Olaso. He will have learnt a lot from that outing and looks the main threat to the selection. The market will be the best guide as regards the newcomers, but Moonstream should be up to winning a race of this nature and gets the vote.
