Betfred 'Follow Us On Twitter' Novices' Hurdle

Off time: 20:56 | Winning time: 4m 58.20s

High Jinx³⁷

Age: 10| Weight: 11-4| J: C R King| T: T D Easterby| D

1/2

Group 1 Flat winner in 2014 (2m4f Prix du Cadran), and beaten just two necks by Dartmouth in the Group 2 Yorkshire Cup in 2017. Made a belated, but smooth winning hurdles debut at Kelso in May (2m5f good); impossible to oppose.

Form: 1

Ballyfarsoon^v³⁷

Age: 7| Weight: 10-12| J: Ryan Winks⁽⁵⁾| T: P Winks

16/1

Bought from Ian Williams for £6,500 in November 2017, this five-time Flat winner (57-rated) has an absolute mountain to climb against a classy rival on hurdles debut.

Form:

Clayton Hall⁹

Age: 5| Weight: 10-12| J: Joe Colliver| T: J S Wainwright| OR: 105

33/1

1 from 27 on the Flat, and no win since May 2016; poor on all three hurdles starts, yet somehow still rated in excess of 100; impossible to enthuse over.

Form: F-76

Vivant¹³

Age: 5| Weight: 10-11| J: D A Jacob| T: T Lacey| OR: 115| D

7/4

Ex-French racer who broke her duck over hurdles in style at Worcester (2m4f maiden) earlier this month; respected, but faces a very tricky looking rival in the shape of High Jinx.

Form: 26P/0P-1

Percy Thrower²⁷

Age: 4| Weight: 10-8| J: Charlie Hammond⁽⁵⁾| T: S-J Davies

16/1

Longstanding Flat maiden (0 from 16), and not achieved enough over hurdles so far in order to be considered in a race of this nature.

Form: P-6

Forecasts

High Jinx (1/2), Vivant (7/4), Ballyfarsoon (16/1), Percy Thrower (16/1), Clayton Hall (33/1)

Vivant was a ready winner over this trip at Worcester recently (maiden), but you'd be fool-hardy to look beyond the classy Group 1 Flat winner HIGH JINX who looked the part over hurdles at Kelso in early May. Connections have bypassed some potential suitable options up north since then and instead elected to wait for this race; with a clear round (expected), he'll be back in the winners enclosure.