15:35 Fontwell

Wednesday 26 December 2018

All12:1512:4513:1513:5014:2515:0015:35

Southern Cranes And Access Conditional Jockeys' Handicap Hurdle

Off time: 15:35 | Winning time: 5m 17.67s

Seaweed⁹^{(ex 7)}

Age: 6| Weight: 12-2| J: Rex Dingle⁽³⁾| T: C Gordon| OR: 97

11/8

Repaid the £2,500 paid for him out of Tony Martin's yard when getting off the mark at Plumpton. Jumped a lot better that day and should stay the extra 3f. Top conditional on board.

Form: 0-70421

Druid's Folly¹³

Age: 8| Weight: 11-12| J: Mitchell Bastyan| T: R Walford| OR: 100

8/1

Better class than this at best but on the downgrade these days and has gone two years and 15 races without a win. Best recent efforts have come off this mark and he will be all the better for a run at Warwick two weeks ago.

Form: 72-2538

Cloud Hopper³⁵²

Age: 4| Weight: 11-7| J: Max Kendrick| T: Jamie Snowden| OR: 95

33/1

Makes handicap debut having shown little in four previous attempts over hurdles. Handicapper has had to take a guess on an opening mark and has erred on the side of caution.

Form: 08806-

Downloadtheapp^p1³²

Age: 5| Weight: 11-6| J: Callum McKinnes⁽⁷⁾| T: D G Bridgwater| OR: 94| BF

9/1

Best form has come on quicker surfaces. Latest run was the subject of a stewards enquiry when the rider and vet could offer no explanation why he stopped so quickly. Cheekpieces on this time.

Form: 677-32P

Cassivellaunus⁸

Age: 6| Weight: 11-6| J: R Patrick| T: G & J Moore| OR: 94

4/1

Winner over 2m at Plumpton (heavy) in February for Daniel Steele off this mark and ran his best race since, on second run for this yard, last week over 2m7f. Top conditional on board for the track's leading trainer.

Form: 710-P03

Hier Encore¹⁵

Age: 6| Weight: 11-0| J: Harry Teal⁽³⁾| T: N Dunger| OR: 88| BF

9/1

0-22 career record but his two best hurdling performances have come around here over 2m5f. Handicap mark on the rise and needs to prove he handles ground as testing as this.

Form: 4-7522F

Jimmy¹⁵

Age: 5| Weight: 10-8| J: Ned Curtis| T: C Gordon| OR: 82

9/2

Down the field on all four handicap starts and. although his mark continues to fall, there have been no signs of improvement.

Form: 77-6089

Non-Runners

Glimpse Of Gold²⁹

Weight: 11-4| Age: 7

T: Tim Vaughan J: Charlie Price

Forecasts

Seaweed (11/8), Cassivellaunus (4/1), Jimmy (9/2), Glimpse Of Gold (9/2), Druid's Folly (8/1), Hier Encore (9/1), Downloadtheapp (9/1), Cloud Hopper (33/1)

Chris Gordon and Gary Moore are usually the trainers to watch around here and they are likely to be battling for honours in this. The former saddles recent Plumpton scorer Seaweed who showed the benefit of his trainer's schooling with a more polished round of jumping. On this occasion the concession of weight to CASSIVELLAUNUS may prove too much. The selection showed improved form when dropped back to his winning mark last time and the booking of Richard Patrick looks significant. Glimpse Of Gold was poor last time but, despite representing a yard with a good record in this race, Druid's Folly may prove a bigger threat.