Tant Pis Handicap Chase

Off time: 14:51 | Winning time: 4m 18.6s

Dulce Panem^v1⁴

Age: 6| Weight: 11-12| J: Aaron Anderson⁽⁷⁾| T: R Menzies| OR: 99

15/2

28-race maiden (bulk of those starts in France); has failed to complete in four of his five starts over fences; visor now applied.

Form: 26B-09F

Echo Express^p1²¹

Age: 6| Weight: 11-11| J: B S Hughes| T: N G Richards| OR: 98

7/4

Made a promising start in bumpers/novice hurdles before going off the boil thereafter; made a fairly solid chasing debut when an 8L runner-up to Le Frank over C&D last month; cheekpieces applied.

Form: 2367-P2

Black Kettle^p,t²⁴²

Age: 8| Weight: 11-8| J: Alain Cawley| T: Micky Hammond| OR: 95| D

10/1

Broke his duck in truly desperate conditions at Newcastle (2m, heavy) in April; off since and has left the care of Sedgefield trainer Rebecca Menzies (for £6,000); 5lb higher mark on seasonal reappearance.

Form: 024431-

Kavanaghs Corner¹⁷

Age: 9| Weight: 11-3| J: D A Jacob| T: Simon Earle| OR: 90

7/2

Improved performer in 2018 (42212) and well equipped for slogging through the mud at tough tracks such as Towcester and Exeter; the drop in trip is a risk but this won't take too much winning; his Wiltshire based trainer is 0-2 at Hexham.

Form: 74221-2

Instingtive¹⁰

Age: 7| Weight: 11-2| J: Ross Chapman⁽³⁾| T: Miss L Harrison| OR: 89| D

5/2

Doesn't win that often, but you'd be foolish for knocking this largely consistent 7yo; produced a very strong performance from 10lb out of the handicap at Carlisle (2m4f, heavy) ten days ago; rates as a fairly obvious player.

Form: 322722

Duhallowcountry^b⁶

Age: 12| Weight: 10-0| J: C J Todd⁽⁷⁾| T: V Thompson| OR: 72| D

33/1

Veteran who can force the pace; without a win since March 2017 (Sedgefield) and just 2-57 under rules overall; clearly not the solution.

Form: U4642P

Bertielicious^h¹⁵

Age: 10| Weight: 10-0| J: S Mulqueen⁽³⁾| T: J C Haynes| OR: 62

100/1

Has raced just once since April 2016; 0-36 under rules (including 0-11 over fences); simply can't be the solution from so far out of the handicap - no chance whatsoever barring accidents.

Form: PPP32/5

Forecasts

Echo Express (7/4), Instingtive (5/2), Kavanaghs Corner (7/2), Dulce Panem (15/2), Black Kettle (10/1), Duhallowcountry (33/1), Bertielicious (100/1)

A thick black line can be inked through three of these runners, so the race is best viewed as a three-way tussle between Echo Express, Instingtive and KAVANAGHS CORNER. Lisa Harrison's runner produced a career best effort from 10lb out of the handicap when nabbed by the flying Calivigny at Carlisle ten days ago and should go close from his correct mark this afternoon but a marginal preference is for the Simon Earle-trained long-distance traveller who is fully proven in testing conditions at stamina sapping tracks.