Midshire Communications Beginners' Chase

Off time: 18:07 | Winning time: 5m 51.40s

Brave Eagle²³

Age: 6| Weight: 11-5| J: James Bowen| T: N J Henderson| BF

4/9

Never looks an easy ride but a record of 5-9 over hurdles belies how he looks during his races and he does always tend to find for pressure. Now switched to fences and although lacking in experience he would have been the best of these over hurdles.

Form: 10U-112

Kostaquarta^v1¹²¹

Age: 11| Weight: 11-5| J: Theo Gillard⁽⁷⁾| T: Mark Gillard| OR: 67

150/1

6-24 in point-to-points but is better judged on his 0-8 Rules record over fences. Looked very slow and jumped poorly when last seen at Plumpton in April in very different conditions and easily passed over here.

Form: 67/PPP5-

Mister Mister¹⁷

Age: 7| Weight: 11-5| J: Shane Quinlan⁽⁷⁾| T: D L Williams| OR: 100| CD

50/1

Has won an Irish point-to-point and is a C&D winner of a novice hurdle but his chasing form hardly inspires having been tailed off on both his starts so far. Plenty of work to do at these weights and on the form he's shown so far.

Form: 31P5-54

Qualando^p⁶⁵

Age: 7| Weight: 11-5| J: T Scudamore| T: A E Jones| OR: 129

6/1

Plenty of experience over fences but remains without a win over them (0-6) and he does have plenty of quirks in his make-up which tend to hold him back. Wasn't disgraced over fences last time but not the most consistent and hard to recommend.

Form: 2P9P4-3

Thumb Stone Blues^p,t¹⁸⁵

Age: 8| Weight: 11-5| J: David Bass| T: K Bailey & M Nicholls| OR: 131WS

3/1

Looks a better chaser than hurdler already despite disappointing when last seen (that failure coming in a much more competitive race). Had some wind surgery since then and likely to get the run of things here from the front.

Form: 22/3220-

Forecasts

Brave Eagle (4/9), Thumb Stone Blues (3/1), Qualando (6/1), Mister Mister (50/1), Kostaquarta (150/1)

Not a particularly deep event with those with chasing experience looking to have find some more improvement to take this and two of them looking outclassed. BRAVE EAGLE who has a fine win/run ratio over hurdles should be hard to beat if he takes to chasing given his recent hurdling form which the rest of the field would find hard to match. Qualando isn’t the easiest to win with and it’s left to Thumbstone Blues back from wind surgery to provide the main danger especially if he gets an easy ride up front.