chased leader until 5th, ridden and weakened from 9th, behind when pulled up before 3 out
chased leaders, hit 4th, chased winner from 5th, ridden 3 out, kept on one pace
held up towards rear, in 4th when hit 8th, soon struggling
always behind, reminders and pushed along after 6th, tailed off when pulled up before 4 out
in touch, outpaced 7th, in 3rd and beaten when hit 3 out
made all, hard ridden from 3 out, kept on
The most-valuable race on the card can go to Ibal, with his main dangers seen as the track scorer Pertino. Pertino, who is a course and distance winner, won from a mark of 115 at Ayr in November and, although beaten from revised marks since, could run well on going he will like. Overall, Ceresfield needs to find a few pounds to score, while Castle Prince has failed to win now for two years. Sharmy is said to prefer good or faster going but he has won on good to soft. He keeps getting bumped up the weights but ought still to run a solid race. Noshinannikin is now seven pounds worse off with Ceresfield for the length that he beat him at Wetherby a year ago, so he need to be very much on top of his game, or have luck on his side, to turn the tables. However, Ibal, who has been quite highly-tried since winning a decent novice event at Sandown in March 2003, holds a very good chance if back to anything like the best of his form. Further softening of the going would help his cause and he is taken to get back to winning ways.
