Reporter: Andy Gibson
The pace was a steady one and no more, and the gallop was set by Myretown, who jumped in a fast and fluent manner throughout until walking through the third last fence and losing his chance. This looked a tightly-knit handicap and so it proved with three horses fighting out the finish in what proved to be an exciting climax to this class one chase.
He had his stamina to prove for this trip and so it was to his credit that he battled hard in the closing stages after coming under pressure prior to the third last fence. This was a big prize, and the handicapper has been kind enough to raise him just 3lbs to 144 which gives him a chance on another day.
Brian Hughes held him up in last place from the off before coming through in stealthy fashion from the third last fence. He only just failed to get up to catch the winner in a driving finish and lost little in defeat.
He raced mainly in second place behind the long-time leader Myretown. The race seemed to go well for him so there was no obvious reason for this third place finish. His connections were talking about the possibility of him improving into a Gold Cup outsider prior to the race and, although he has performed well again here, that potential Festival bubble was rather burst.
After making all the running and jumping beautifully throughout, he then walked through the third last fence and lost all chance as a consequence. He seems to have developed a habit of missing one out and, hence his record of having failed to complete the course in two of his latest five chases is not just a coincidence. If we throw in his race losing mistake here then this habit is clearly something to consider when assessing his true place in any market in the future. On the plus side, he appeared to be traveling comfortably better than all of his rivals at the point of his serious error. Furthermore, he did well to rally and stay on again close to the finish despite a less than fluent leap at the final fence.
This defeat extended his losing run to eight chases. In addition, he has only won two minor races at Carlisle from his 14 attempts over obstacles. Once again, he looked very slow overt this sort of trip and perhaps the flat track and relatively tight nature of this course were not ideal for him. I would guess he will be heading back for another go at the Kim Muir after being a slightly unfortunate runner up in the 2025 renewal of that chase.
This was a disappointing performance round his favourite course and distance, as he looked well beaten even before the turn for home.
