For a lot of the final circuit, I thought Icare Grandchamp had a very good chance of winning, but he didn't see the trip out.
I did believe that he was better over shorter distances, but I thought his stamina would be fine for the trip. However, I didn't expect Mahons Glory to set such a strong pace. He is a known frontrunner, but he wasn't contested and still went off like a lunatic.
As for Diamond De Vindency, I don't think I've seen anything like that in all my years of watching racing. He was settled towards the rear and a bit ponderous over the first few fences, but then refused to jump a fence. That is normal, but he then proceeded to climb over half of the fence, resulting in him being half on and half off the fence. Strange for him to refuse to jump, as the jockey was asking him to jump on a good stride.
Classical Sting 5/2 (2pt) – Southwell 4.45
It's a bit of a risk giving a chance to Classical Sting on the back of a pulled-up effort over fences, but he is making his handicap debut over hurdles in a very weak race.
Steel Soldier would be a big player in this if he can repeat his recent performance. The problem is that he has never managed to back up a decent effort and often goes on a stretch of bad runs before having a better one. Beorma is another horse who is of interest for Dan Skelton, but he's been off the track for 445 days.
Classical Sting was a winner on his chasing debut, then finished second. We know he can run well in handicaps, and having a winner in these types of races is a big thing. I'm not too fussed about him returning to hurdles, as last time out was a very bad jumping performance, and he is unexposed over hurdles, with just three runs qualifying him for a chase handicap mark.
We know he handles soft ground, but unsure about heavy. He ran on heavy last time out, but I don't think the ground was the issue, as he was simply horrendous. The level of his form on his two good chase runs is miles clear of the rest of this field, albeit over fences.
Laura Morgan has opted for new headgear, which is always something to monitor when they are on their first handicap over hurdles/fences.
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