Matchbook Best Value Exchange Novices' Handicap Chase

Off time: 15:15 | Winning time: 5m 6.05s

Monty's Award^h⁴⁰

Age: 7| Weight: 11-11| J: S Bowen| T: C E Longsdon| OR: 121| D

9/4

Beat the now 136-rated Commodore Barry by 2½L when taking the final of the Fixed Brush Hurdles Series at Worcester (2m4f, good) in October; raced sparingly since; can progress quickly over fences (debut); conditions perfect.

Form: 5P/2164-

Shoal Bay^p1,t³¹

Age: 6| Weight: 11-6| J: Jonjo O'Neill Jr.⁽³⁾| T: C L Tizzard| OR: 116

7/4

Has fallen 16lb in the weights (over hurdles) since finishing second at Wincanton (1m7½f, good to soft) 13-months ago; difficult to identify what is his optimum trip; cheekpieces applied for chasing debut.

Form: 605645-

Templepark²¹

Age: 6| Weight: 11-3| J: Max Kendrick⁽⁵⁾| T: B I Case| OR: 113

11/2

PTP winner; finished second on four occasions under rules in bumpers and maiden hurdles (2m-2m4f); few obvious excuses (showed up well for plenty of the race) when finishing last of three to Cosmic King on chasing debut (Huntingdon 2m+, good).

Form: 232253-

Ballyart⁵²

Age: 6| Weight: 11-0| J: Sam Twiston-Davies| T: N & W Twiston-Davies| OR: 110

11/4

Has done the bulk of his racing under rules (hurdles) at or around 3m; remains a maiden - went closest on deep ground at Chepstow in December 2018; could fare better for the switch to chasing; trip/ground concerns.

Form: 452757-

Non-Runners

Kilcara⁷

Weight: 11-6| Age: 6

T: J Scott J: Rex Dingle

Forecasts

Shoal Bay (7/4), Kilcara (2/1), Monty's Award (9/4), Ballyart (11/4), Templepark (11/2)

An open contest, with three of the five declared runners jumping fences competitively for the very first time. The mare Kilcara took her chance when beating Jaboticaba (made a bad mistake at the final fence) at Warwick, and she's massively respected off an identical mark. However, we'll take a chance on one of the newcomers with the top-weight MONTY'S AWARD having the strongest hurdles form in the book. He wasn't over-raced during the winter after winning the Fixed Brush Hurdles Series Final at Worcester (2m4f, good), and can quickly make up for that lost time over fences with conditions now more to his liking.