Sceau Royal
6th November – Wincanton – His record on good and good to firm ground is outstanding and he proved far too good for his rivals here. His jumping was as slick as ever and he took up the running two out before drawing comfortably clear with more in hand at the line than his winning margin would imply. In these conditions he is one of the top four or five hurdlers around and presumably it will be the Fighting Fifth next for him providing the ground is no worse than good to soft. He had no chance in that race last season due to being left in the lead from an early stage. His early season form is very good and if Newcastle provides a sound surface in three weeks’ time Sceau Royal might be under-estimated in the market due to that apparently disappointing effort in the 2020 renewal
Teqany
6th November – Wincanton – He had conditions to suit and was race-fit unlike one or two of his rivals. He simply repeated the level of his form with Sceau Royal from Kempton in the middle of October and from the 2020 renewal of this contest. Presumably he will have a break now whilst the winter soft ground sets in.
Belfast Banter
6th November – Wincanton – He looked beaten when taking a horrendous looking fall at the final hurdle last time out at Listowel. Consequently, it was good to see him put in a clear round and generally jump well round here. I think the majority view will be that he is best when competing off a fast pace in a big field handicap and there may well be some truth in this. He was held up out the back and made good late headway without being given too hard a time of things. Hopefully, this clear round will act as a confidence booster the next time we see him.
Christopher Wood
6th November – Wincanton – This was his first run after wind surgery, and he acquitted himself well for a long way. The market and jockey booking implied that he may have needed this outing. He will also be better on a softer surface.
Sole Pretender
6th November – Wincanton – If we based our opinion on him on this one performance it would be easy to suggest he was out of his depth. Perhaps the ground was faster than ideal – I am not sure…
He acquired his elevated mark due to a wide margin success at Ballinrobe where he finished in front of horses rated 119, 125 and 122 respectively. In fact, he was raised from 116 to 145 due to three successes in races of similar level to that Ballinrobe race. He was then put up to 150 after beating the 154 rated Bapaume whilst in receipt of weight. Bapaume would not be in the same league as Sceau Royal so maybe Sole Pretender was simply found out at a higher level here?
Hatcher
6th November – Wincanton – It is possible that this run came too soon after his latest outing in a handicap chase at Cheltenham 14 days ago. Either way he was never placed to challenge, and this entry was presumably mainly about trying to nick a bit of prize money.
