13:15 Kelso

Saturday 28 October 2017

All13:1513:5014:2515:0015:3516:0516:4017:15

Ian Anderson Memorial 'National Hunt' Maiden Hurdle (Div 1)

Off time: 13:15 | Winning time: 4m 8.42s

Echo Express²³⁸

Age: 5| Weight: 11-0| J: R D Day⁽³⁾| T: N G Richards

6/5

Half-brother to three winners on the Flat so it was no surprise to see him take a small field bumper on his debut at Doncaster in March. Now switches to hurdles for the first time and expected to make a bold bid to score on his debut.

Form: 1-

Farocco^t1⁶⁸

Age: 4| Weight: 11-0| J: Dale Irving⁽³⁾| T: M A Barnes

200/1

Tongue-tie now added for his hurdles debut after two quite frankly ordinary performances in bumpers and has little chance of winning this.

Form: 77

Hey Listen³⁰

Age: 5| Weight: 11-0| J: Thomas Willmott⁽¹⁰⁾| T: Miss Lucinda V Russell

16/1

Pulled-up on two of his three hurdles starts he finished third on his only completed start so far and looks flattered greatly by that piece of form. Chance that he will show more here but hardly a solid proposition.

Form: 1F2-P3P

Moores Novelty¹⁵⁴

Age: 5| Weight: 11-0| J: Lucy Alexander| T: N W Alexander

33/1

Finished second in an Irish point-to-point and has plenty of winners in his pedigree. Hard to know what to expect on his Rules debut with the market likely to be the best guide.

Form: 4P-2

Pookie Pekan²³⁰

Age: 4| Weight: 11-0| J: Sam Coltherd⁽⁵⁾| T: W Coltherd

100/1

Makes his Rules debut with his point-to-point form only looking to be modest and best watched this time around.

Form: 6F3-

Rockalzaro¹⁷⁰

Age: 5| Weight: 11-0| J: W T Kennedy| T: D McCain Jnr

5/1

Showed progressive form in bumpers winning a small field one at Carlisle in May on his third start. The bare form doesn't add up to much but comes from a yard that are going well at the moment and is worthy of more than a glance here.

Form: 63-1

Silver Bullion²⁷¹

Age: 6| Weight: 11-0| J: Henry Brooke| T: Miss P Robson| D

7/1

Showed his best form so far on his debut when taking a big-field bumper at Ayr but failed to build on that run returned to the same track. The ground may have been his undoing there and this better surface should suit on his hurdles debut.

Form: 18-

Star Of Milan

Age: 4| Weight: 11-0| J: D R Fox| T: Miss Lucinda V Russell

25/1

Has a pedigree that suggests this trip will be a little of the sharp side although he is related to winners which makes him worth checking out in the market. Looks to be the stable selected based on jockey bookings.

Form:

Temple Man²⁰

Age: 5| Weight: 11-0| J: Jamie Hamilton⁽³⁾| T: J M Jefferson

10/1

His bumper form was consistent enough (placed all three starts) but didn't really make that much of an impression on his hurdles debut here recently. May have needed the run on that occasion and not totally written off here on his second hurdles start.

Form: 324-5

Witness Time^h²⁰¹

Age: 5| Weight: 11-0| J: Craig Nichol| T: R Dobbin

22/1

Has shown some minor promise in bumpers and over hurdles without showing enough to win something like this. Handicaps look the obvious port of call and interest once he has a mark.

Form: 55F58-

Cheenys Venture^h1¹⁹⁶

Age: 5| Weight: 10-7| J: Rachel McDonald⁽⁷⁾| T: A M Thomson

66/1

Makes his stable/hurdle debut having shown very little in bumpers for his previous yard; 100/1 on both occasions.

Form: 78-

The Delray Munky²⁰⁸

Age: 5| Weight: 10-7| J: Ross Chapman⁽⁵⁾| T: I Jardine

7/1

Has looked to be a stayer in both her starts so far in a bumper and over hurdles so this trip looks on the sharp side for her. Could be expected to do better than she has shown but likely to need another 4f at least to show her best.

Form: 42-

Forecasts

Echo Express (6/5), Rockalzaro (5/1), Silver Bullion (7/1), The Delray Munky (7/1), Temple Man (10/1), Hey Listen (16/1), Witness Time (22/1), Star Of Milan (25/1), Moores Novelty (33/1), Cheenys Venture (66/1), Pookie Pekan (100/1), Farocco (200/1)

Not that much strength in depth in this like a lot of Northern novice hurdles and a lot of these won’t come into their own until they are given a chance in handicaps. Echo Express created a good impression when winning his bumper at Doncaster and should continue his progress switched to hurdles. Silver Bullion is a similar type having taken a bumper on his debut and this sounder surface may well suit him better than the heavy ground that looked to cause his defeat at Ayr on his second start. Star Of Milan and The Delray Munkay both look capable of picking up a novice hurdle but over further and ROCKALZARO is given the vote with the McCain yard going well as he goes hurdling for the first time.