Expert Analysis

The pace was a gentle one according to Attheraces sectionals which should have suited the front runners. Unfortunately the two pace setters both failed to finish, leaving the holdup horses to come to the fore in the home straight.

MOUDAN The first two horses to finish both came into the race with left field form to their names which made this a difficult outcome to quantify. I would err on the side of this being strong heavy ground form given the beating handed out to Traprain Law who is well handicapped and was running in his ideal conditions. His trainer described him as a late developer after he won at Navan in March so there may be a fair bit more to come from him next season.

LE NEZ CREUX This was a promising effort in this company from such a young inexperienced horse. He was ridden to pick up the pieces so is maybe slightly flattered to finish in second place on the day; nevertheless, this was his first run outside of France and his debut for the Gavin Cromwell yard, so plenty of reason to think he can improve upon this next year as a six year old with more experience under his belt.

TRAPRAIN LAW He tired in the closing stages after trying to stay with the easy winner. I have marked him up as the second best horse on the day as the eventual runner up was ridden more patiently which allowed him to finish his race off better than Traprain Law. He came into this race with a two from two record as a chaser over two miles running on heavy ground. I am not sure whether to be disappointed by his tired finish or super impressed with the winners performance. Time will tell us more on that score.

CALICO He inherited fourth place after running past a tiring rival who had already run his race. He had to do very little here to earn his connections more than 4k.

SANS BRUIT For the second race in a row he might possibly have given an indication that he is not quite as good as he was last season. I would hesitate to be too definitive on this point as this heavy ground would not have been ideal and may have been the major contributing factor to this tired looking finish.

MATATA I suspect time will tell he had a lot on his plate conceding the best part of two stone to some decent sorts behind him. The ground would have been much softer than ideal and as a consequence he had long since dropped away when coming down at the third last fence.

PALACIO He seemed to guess at many of his fences and I would be a little wary of his claims next season until he shows something to the contrary. The flip side to this argument is that he is at his best when racing as a fresh horse so maybe his best chance will come first time out in the late autumn. I will let the market on that day dictate my decision making.