JMIFA Handicap Chase

Off time: 15:45 | Winning time: 5m 7.2s

Jaunty Thor^t¹⁶

Age: 8| Weight: 11-10| J: R Johnson| T: G Elliott| OR: 98| BF

2/5

Remains a maiden over fences after seven attempts (caught close home over 2m at Newcastle in January - when with Oliver Greenall); bought for £5,000 in May, and just touched off by a neck over C&D on recent stable debut (hurdles).

Form: 24P20-2

Orioninverness^p,t¹³³

Age: 7| Weight: 11-10| J: S Mulqueen⁽³⁾| T: Miss Lucinda V Russell| OR: 98| D

8/1

Booked for second place (at best) when falling at the last over 3m here in May (good), and most unhelpfully has been raised 4lb since by the assessor; handles most conditions, albeit with both chasing wins coming over 2m4f on heavy ground.

Form: F8413-F

Rancher Lass^h,t⁵⁰

Age: 7| Weight: 11-9| J: Mr J C Barry⁽⁵⁾| T: K Thornton| OR: 97

8/1

Stayed on well to win a 3m Class 4 handicap chase at Musselburgh (good) in December 2017, and was in contention when departing late on next time at Leopardstown; sharper for her recent Roscommon (3m) reappearance.

Form: F701F-0

Seven Devils^t⁵⁰⁸

Age: 8| Weight: 11-8| J: D R Fox| T: Miss Lucinda V Russell| OR: 96

9/1

Stablemate of Orioninverness; off the track 16 months since finishing 9L third to No Such Number at Hexham (2m4f, good) in May 2017, so has presumably had issues; handicapper has cut him some slack (3lb below last winning mark).

Form: 65335/3-

Instingtive¹⁶

Age: 7| Weight: 11-1| J: Ross Chapman⁽³⁾| T: Miss L Harrison| OR: 89

40/1

Unseated his rider at the first (in a match) when last racing over fences here in September 2017, but has won twice over hurdles since then (2m-2m1f heavy); 0-5 at Perth - a track where his trainer is known for saddling plenty of winners.

Form: 154-870

Airdrigh^p³⁹

Age: 6| Weight: 11-0| J: B S Hughes| T: S R B Crawford| OR: 88

16/1

11-race maiden; made a very moderate start over fences when well beaten by Cubomania over C&D (good) last month; very difficult to consider on the basis of that effort despite hailing from a much respected Irish yard.

Form: 7P4-565

Forecasts

Jaunty Thor (2/5), Orioninverness (8/1), Rancher Lass (8/1), Seven Devils (9/1), Airdrigh (16/1), Instingtive (40/1)

Not the deepest of 2m4f handicap chases, so that presents the Gordon Elliott-trained JAUNTY THOR with an ideal opportunity to get off the mark over fences. He is rated 10lb higher over hurdles, so assuming that he is able to translate his recent improvement back to the larger obstacles, he appears feasibly treated and primed to strike at the second time of asking for this handler. Seven Devils is one of two runners for local trainer Lucinda Russell, but this returning 8yo looks to be the second string behind Orioninverness, who gets the nod for the forecast despite being far from the most fluent of fencers.