Henry And Grace 5th Birthday 'National Hunt' Novices' Hurdle

Off time: 12:26 | Winning time: 5m 0.80s

Dundrum Wood³³

Age: 5| Weight: 10-12| J: Aidan Coleman| T: O Murphy| BFWS

7/4

Irish point winner who improved from a promising bumper run when 5L second (albeit beaten at odds-on) here over slightly shorter last month (good to soft). Had wind surgery soon after and should go well again here.

Form: 313-2

Guy²⁷

Age: 4| Weight: 10-12| J: Sam Twiston-Davies| T: N & W Twiston-Davies

13/8

Ran well on debut in a Perth bumper (good to soft) in April. Improved on that on his debut in a decent Cheltenham novices' hurdle. Should be a fair bit more to come and he looks the one to beat here.

Form: 2-6

Levasseur^t1²¹

Age: 5| Weight: 10-12| J: C Gethings| T: B I Case

40/1

Dual point runner-up, but hasn't shown much in two hurdles so far. Tongue-tie goes on.

Form: 229-7

Robaddan²⁰

Age: 5| Weight: 10-12| J: Hugh Nugent⁽⁵⁾| T: C J Mann

11/4

Debut Irish point winner in March. Ran well to be second in a couple of bumpers in Ireland, and changed hands for £55,000 in August. No immediate improvement on stable/hurdles debut last month, but can't rule him out.

Form: 1-224

Xcitations²⁰

Age: 4| Weight: 10-12| J: Kielan Woods| T: Mrs P Sly

14/1

Showed some promise here on debut in a bumper and matched that effort on his hurdles debut at Wetherby recently. No surprise if he goes on to win races, but that may not happen quite as soon as today.

Form: 565

Forecasts

Guy (13/8), Dundrum Wood (7/4), Robaddan (11/4), Xcitations (14/1), Levasseur (40/1)

If wind surgery helps Dundrum Wood to find further improvement, then he should go very close here, but after a good effort in a better race at Cheltenham on his hurdles debut, the four-year-old GUY is preferred today. Robaddan may prove next best.