Sky Sports Racing Sky 415 Novices' Hurdle

Off time: 15:26 | Winning time: 5m 29.6s

The Butcher Said^h,t¹¹

Age: 6| Weight: 11-12| J: Adrian Heskin| T: O Murphy| OR: 131| D

6/4

Has turned a corner in recent starts, two easy wins at Huntingdon and Cartmel, and clearly on the up now. No easy task under a penalty against two previous winners but is the form choice on paper, and will have his shot at the hat-trick.

Form: 36/62-11

Monkey Puzzle²²

Age: 7| Weight: 11-5| J: L P Aspell| T: O Sherwood| OR: 120

13/8

Came back off a two year absence to score well at Southwell, looking a proper stayer in the process. Given that long absence, may well improve again for that run and getting 7lb from The Butcher Said, looks a big danger to him here.

Form: 22P/1

Deputy Jones⁵⁴

Age: 6| Weight: 10-5| J: Sam Twiston-Davies| T: N P Mulholland

5/2

Made a very solid introduction when third over C&D here in April, staying on under tender handling and looks a surefire improver at some stage. That could be here, and she gets a nice bit of weight off the other two.

Form: 1/3-

Forecasts

The Butcher Said (6/4), Monkey Puzzle (13/8), Deputy Jones (5/2)

Three runners but all three make some appeal. The Butcher Said has found some form but he's got to concede 7lb to Monkey Puzzle and a whopping 21lb to DEPUTY JONES, who is a mare with plenty of size about her and her third over C&D last time is a decent enough first effort. If she can take a step forward on that, she can make that weight concession count. Monkey Puzzle is no back number either after a good win at Southwell, and this is a tricky little puzzle to solve.