Dave Criddle Travel Handicap Chase

Off time: 15:55 | Winning time: 4m 9.6s

Le Coeur Net⁶

Age: 6| Weight: 11-12| J: Aidan Coleman| T: A J Honeyball| OR: 105

2/1

Exited early when supported last time despite a poor run prior and a mark 9lb higher than when scoring in January. Yet to prove he stays this far on heavy ground, however this is a weak race.

Form: U7122F

Exmoor Mist^p,t¹⁹

Age: 10| Weight: 11-11| J: James Best| T: V R A Dartnall| OR: 104

15/8

Produced his best in a while when a C&D runner-up in February. Has won of soft but said not to want conditions too deep. That was certainly the case when tailed off last time and must be a concern here.

Form: 7P-9726

Smoking Dixie¹⁴¹

Age: 7| Weight: 11-5| J: Lee Edwards| T: J Groucott| OR: 98

3/1

Modest hurdler for Ben Pauling and left his yard after a poor chasing debut in November. Can still be given a chance in this company off this mark and interesting to see if there is any support for him.

Form: 2/7644-P

Fact Flow⁷³

Age: 9| Weight: 10-12| J: R T Dunne| T: D Burchell| OR: 91

11/2

Modest ex-Irish point-to-pointer who has yet to set the pulse tingling in his four starts over here. Tailed off on chase debut at Hereford but could still be good enough to win a race as bad as this if improving for the longer trip and heavier going

Form: 43-0755

Forecasts

Exmoor Mist (15/8), Le Coeur Net (2/1), Smoking Dixie (3/1), Fact Flow (11/2)

There are few persuasive clues as to who is the prime suspect to steal this prize. Le Coeur Net will be a warm order for this as he bids to recover Fontwell losses. However, he floundered over this trip on heavy ground on his penultimate start so there are concerns despite the lack of quality opponents. Exmoor Mist has won on soft ground but connections were quick to point out he wanted it no more testing than that and, with his latest run fresh in the memory, he is hard to recommend. Neither Smoking Dixie nor FACT FLOW have any worthwhile recent form. However, the latter was placed on heavy ground in Ireland and he is worth chancing off his low weight.