held up mid-division, fell 7th
tracked leaders, headway to lead after 7th, ridden clear after 3 out, not fluent last, stayed on well flat
close up, disputed lead from 6th, ridden approaching 3 out, effort between last two, one pace under pressure
chased leaders, pushed along and dropped rear 7th, soon lost touch
held up towards rear, pushed along after 5th, headway to go 3rd approaching 4 out, soon outpaced
led, headed after 7th, weakened approaching 4 out
held up in rear, mistake 2nd, tailed off after 6th
Able Native and Sijujama have both shown enough to suggest that they can win races over fences. However, they face a stiff task in doing so here as they take on, the latter for the second successive time, the Heather Dalton-trained Deferlant. Since narrowly beaten by Mr Woodland at Newton Abbot last month, the five-year-old has done very little wrong, winning all three starts and doing so in impressive fashion. Admittedly he has to give lumps of weight away but Richard Johnson's mount is in a different class to his rivals and is the obvious TEAMtalk selection. Stratford hurdle winner Cregs Way looks out of his depth as do the rest of the field and granted a clear run it will be surprising if this does not go to the favourite.
