Paul Ferguson's Jumpers To Follow Chase (Novices' Limited Handicap)

Off time: 15:16 | Winning time: 4m 59.0s

Earlshill¹⁴⁶

Age: 7| Weight: 11-9| J: C Gethings| T: S Edmunds| OR: 122| D

10/3

Recorded a second straight hurdles win for this trainer (formerly with Dan Skelton) when making all to see off French Crusader by 3½L at Southwell in May (2m4f+ good); wind surgery has clearly suited; tougher assignment on chasing debut.

Form: 2/3501-1

Fixed Rate^p,t¹⁴⁹

Age: 5| Weight: 11-8| J: Sam Twiston-Davies| T: C J Mann| OR: 121| D

11/1

3-17 over hurdles (stays 2m4f on a flat track); form tailed off in the second half of last season, but is easing in the weights a fraction, so we'll wait and see what he's capable of over fences (debut) before judging.

Form: 624P-39

Cloth Cap¹⁷⁹

Age: 6| Weight: 11-8| J: R P McLernon| T: J & A O'Neill| OR: 121| C

7/1

His sole hurdles win came in a moderate race here (2m4f+) on Boxing Day, but was in contention when falling late in the race at Ayr (3m, good) in April; an obvious venue at which to make his chasing debut.

Form: 54716F-

Copper West¹²⁶

Age: 7| Weight: 11-4| J: P J Brennan| T: T R George| OR: 117

9/4

Runner up on both chasing starts at Southwell so far (albeit one of those races was a match); doesn't appear to be abundantly talented, but should win races eventually, and that experience is helpful.

Form: 4335-22

Cloone Lady¹⁷⁵

Age: 6| Weight: 11-4| J: M Hamill⁽³⁾| T: K Bailey & M Nicholls| OR: 117

12/1

Best effort for this trainer over hurdles came at this track in April (2m4f+) when a 9L runner up (50/1) to Jet Set; 1-4 in Irish point-to-points previously, so can be expected to win races over fences for much respected connections.

Form: F21462-

Ri An Rian^p⁸⁶

Age: 5| Weight: 11-1| J: Tom Cannon| T: Mrs L J Mongan| OR: 114| D

12/1

0-7 over hurdles, but solid when switched to fences by previous trainer Elizabeth Doyle, winning narrowly at Tipperary (2m4f, good) in July; reasonable opening handicap mark for debut on these shores; chance.

Form: 365-201

Heydour²⁵

Age: 5| Weight: 11-0| J: B S Hughes| T: M R Channon| OR: 113

9/2

0-4 over hurdles, but regularly placed at a lowly level (2m4f-2m5f+); beaten just under 10L in a Newton Abbot novices hurdle last month (third), and switches to fences for the first time with Brian Hughes in the saddle.

Form: 08-333

Forecasts

Copper West (9/4), Earlshill (10/3), Heydour (9/2), Cloth Cap (7/1), Fixed Rate (11/1), Cloone Lady (12/1), Ri An Rian (12/1)

An open looking race in which no strong opinion is formed. Earlshill is unbeaten in two starts for Stuart Edmunds, but it remains to be seen how he handles the switch to fences, comments which are applicable to a number of other runners including Fixed Rate and Cloth Cap. Therefore, a tentative vote goes to Laura Mongan's RI AN RIAN who has shown reasonable form over fences in Ireland for Liz Doyle.