tracked leader, led halfway, ridden and headed over 1f out, weakened inside final furlong
steadied and switched left start, held up in rear, headway far side of group and switched left 2f out, went 2nd under pressure inside final furlong, no chance with winner
chased leaders, weakened final 2f
raced keenly, held up in last pair, headway far side of group chasing leaders over 2f out, ridden over 1f out, 3rd and no impression inside final furlong
raced keenly, led until halfway, ridden and lost 2nd 2f out, weakened soon after
Lord Of The Lodge has won off a higher mark in the past and ran well in a conditions race at Wolverhampton a week ago while the front-runner Larado had the measure of Zip when scoring over track and trip though the latter was less than a length behind. NOISY NIGHT was having his first outing of last year when going close over 6f here in December. He landed a hat-trick in 2021 and can return to wining ways back over this longer trip. Air To Air and Raising Sand have both struggled since winning on Turf last year.
Lord Of The Lodge (IRE) 10-1 (9-5) Led, pushed along 2f out, ridden over 1f out, headed inside final furlong, ran on, 3rd of 7, 1/2l behind Mums Tipple (9-5) at Wolverhampton 6f stks (2) pol in Dec.
Air To Air 14-1 (9-8) Switched left start, in rear, weakened over 1f out, last of 9, 18 1/2l behind Baradar (9-6) at Doncaster 7f hcp (2) hvy in Nov.
Raising Sand 33-1 (10-2) Chased leaders, switched right over 1f out, weakening when not much room inside final furlong, 8th of 10, 9 3/4l behind Top Secret (9-6) at Kempton 1m hcp (3) pol in Nov.
Noisy Night 4-1 (9-7) Mid-division, headway over 1f out, ran on inside final furlong, went 2nd close home, 2nd of 13, hd behind Pockley (8-4) at Newcastle 6f hcp (3) pol in Dec.
Larado (FR) 20-1 (8-5) Made virtually all, driven over 1f out, stayed on gamely inside final furlong, won at Newcastle 7f hcp (2) pol in Dec beating Zip (8-4) by 3/4l, 9 ran.
Zip 12-1 (8-4) Prominent, ridden over 2f out, every chance over 1f out, held by winner final 75 yards, 2nd of 9, 3/4l behind Larado (8-5) at Newcastle 7f hcp (2) pol in Dec.