always prominent, led 2 out, went left and not fluent last, stayed on well to draw clear flat
handy, jumped slowly 5th, not fluent 3 out, one pace last, lost 2nd towards finish
held up in 4th, not fluent 5th, ridden after 3 out, outpaced when hit 2 out, stayed on flat, went 2nd towards finish, no chance with winner
took keen hold, led until 2 out, no extra flat
Mumgos Debut has disappointed hitherto whilst Trend Is My Friend receives plenty of weight from the top two but hasn't seemed to progress much since landing a Sedgefield hurdle last April. He's not ruled out but this looks to lie between the Irish pair of Howwoulduno and LISBON. Both were scheduled to run here on Tuesday night but it's the Griffin charge that receives the vote if turning up as he's massively favoured by race conditions being rated 11lb higher on official ratings than his Irish compatriot. Both are on the upgrade but it's hard to oppose Lisbon on those figures.
Howwoulduno (IRE) 11-4 (10-12) Tracked leaders, ridden to lead before last, soon pressed, kept on well under pressure towards finish, won at Hexham 2m nh nov hdl (4) gd in Jun beating Symphonick (10-12) by 1 1/4l, 11 ran.
Lisbon (IRE) 11-4fav (11-6) Tracked leading pair, went 2nd 3 out, led before 2 out, clear between last 2, easily, won at Perth 2m hcp hdl 0-120 (4) gf beating The Ice Factor (11-9) by 10l, 8 ran.
Trend Is My Friend (USA) 11-2 (11-3) Sweating, pulled hard, held up in last pair, driven and headway approaching 2 out, went 3rd before last, kept on same pace flat, 3rd of 7, 13l behind Bayan (11-3) at Perth 2m nh nov hdl (4) gf.
Mumgos Debut (IRE) 80-1 (10-12) Raced keenly led and set steady pace, increased tempo after 3 out, pushed along and headed 2 out, lost 2nd soon after, weakened approaching last, 5th of 7, 22l behind Bayan (11-3) at Perth 2m nh nov hdl (4) gf.
