188bet.co.uk Novices' Chase

Off time: 14:35 | Winning time: 6m 40.60s

Packettotherafters^p¹⁹

Age: 8| Weight: 11-6| J: T J O'Brien| T: G Hanmer| OR: 94

100/1

Former point-to-pointer is easily the most experiences over fences and indeed has already won a race at Bangor over 3m. Gives weight to all here and based on hurdles form of his rivals he is very unlikely to prove good enough.

Form: PPP3F/2

Ballyoptic²⁵

Age: 7| Weight: 11-1| J: Sam Twiston-Davies| T: N & W Twiston-Davies| BF| D

7/4

Grade One winning hurdler makes his eagerly awaited chasing debut here. Could easily develop into an RSA chase candidate and with trainer firing in winners he is expected to make this a winning debut over fences.

Form: 2F4P5-5

Barney Dwan²¹³

Age: 7| Weight: 11-1| J: N D Fehily| T: F O'Brien| OR: 143

6/4

Could have won both chase starts to date. All but fell when clear at the last at Kempton before being brought down when cruising at Wincanton. Second behind Presenting Percy at Cheltenham festival back over hurdles and respected here.

Form: 2BU427-

De Dollar Man²³⁷

Age: 6| Weight: 11-1| J: Adam Wedge| T: Evan Williams| OR: 139| D

8/1

Won a couple of novice hurdles before running respectably in Neptune at Cheltenham behind Willoughby Court. Won 3m point-to-point so should stay and looks a smart prospect.

Form: 11139-

Elegant Escape²³

Age: 5| Weight: 11-1| J: T Scudamore| T: C L Tizzard| OR: 137

7/2

Kept mainly good company over hurdles and put up a string of consistent efforts. Recent chase debut at Chepstow saw him second to Mia's Storm and with that experience a boost he could go well.

Form: 14577-2

Forecasts

Barney Dwan (6/4), Ballyoptic (7/4), Elegant Escape (7/2), De Dollar Man (8/1), Packettotherafters (100/1)

Top-class hurdler BALLYOPTIC missed an intended outing at Stratford last week but makes his eagerly awaited chase debut here. There are some potentially smart novices here but Nigel Twiston-Davies' charge was 11lb plus superior to all over hurdles so if taking to fences will be hard to beat. Barney Dwan may be the main danger. He is also high class over hurdles and showed he can take to bigger obstacles despite two luckless runs last season. With a recent run under his belt Elegant Escape can't be ignored either and he jumped well on chase debut there.