Although there are 22 runners declared to face the starter this may not be as competitive as the numbers suggest and the vote goes to Tigers Lair, who is preferred to Pitminster and Make Haste Slowly. The selection has shown ability in all three starts in bumpers latterly at Aintree at the Grand National meeting. He looks likely to take high rank among novice hurdlers this season and is taken to make a winning start in the grade. Make Haste Slowly has arguably the best form of these to have raced over hurdles, having filled third place behind Bourbon Manhattan at Aintree in November, however, a below par effort at Ludlow last time tempers enthusiasm for Henry Daly's gelding. The Paul Nicholls-trained Pitminster has shown enough to suggest that he has to be respected in this company, along with Nicky Henderson's Sangatte and the Venetia Williams-trained bumper winner Real Cracker. French import Jesper is another to consider but for the vote we side with Tigers Lair, who may prove to be different class to his rivals.
