held up in touch, headway 6th, led approaching last, driven out
held up in touch, blundered and unseated rider 4th
tracked leader, led 6th, headed approaching last, kept on same pace
midfield, mistake 3rd, weakened quickly 5th, tailed off when pulled up before next
towards rear, never dangerous
keen early in midfield, pushed along 6th soon weakened
tracked leaders, ridden 2 out, weakened approaching last
raced keen in midfield, ridden approaching 2 out, soon weakened
held up in rear, pushed along approaching 2 out, stayed on, same pace from between last 2, no impression on leaders
in touch, ridden and effort approaching 2 out, weakened approaching last
midfield, headway approaching 2 out to chase leaders, driven and effort approaching last, stayed on strongly flat to chase winner, held towards finish
midfield, headway 6th, effort 2 out, onepaced under pressure
A tricky affair to weigh up. Buckby Lane has the form on the board and should be plenty short enough in the market. He was second to the highly rated Inca Trail at Ludlow in January at odds of 66/1 and certainly wont be that price here. St Matthew ran well enough behind Island Faith at Newcastle in similar conditions a couple of weeks ago. He will be difficult to place off his current handicap mark and it looks as if Novice contests are to be his forte this term. Maggie's Well races here after a posting a second to Begsy's Bullet at the last meeting. That was a career best for Chris Grant's mare and she will need to have improved again to land this prize. We will give a tentative vote to Touch Closer. A thorough stayer on the flat; he did disappoint on debut over timber but the fact he was well-backed on that occasion shows that the connections must have seen something on the gallops. Ragu should handle the surface but has invariably flattered-to-deceive in the closing stages of her races thus far.
