Steel City Foundation Conditional Jockeys' Veterans' Handicap Chase

Off time: 14:20 | Winning time: 6m 32.1s

Horatio Hornblower^p³³

Age: 11| Weight: 11-12| J: Chester Williams| T: Nick Williams| OR: 121| D

13/8

Took advantage of a lenient handicap mark to score on his seasonal reappearance at Ffos Las in November and obviously comes here in good heart but 6lb higher leaves him looking vulnerable.

Form: 3U3P5-1

Al Co¹⁰⁶

Age: 14| Weight: 11-6| J: Charlie Price| T: O Greenall & J Guerriero| OR: 115| CD

14/1

Scottish National winner back in the day and revived from out of the blue on his initial stable start to take a Cartmel veterans' chase in May; two disappointing efforts in June and August subsequently and hard to know what to expect.

Form: 56P-1P4

Chase The Wind^t⁵⁹

Age: 10| Weight: 11-4| J: Billy Garritty| T: Miss J E Foster| OR: 113| D

13/8

Front runner who would not want the ground to get too soft (all his wins have come on good ground); ran well after a short break to win at Huntingdon in October and is very much respected in this company despite not winning off such a high mark.

Form: 2352-31

Cusheen Bridge^t²⁰

Age: 11| Weight: 11-1| J: C J Todd⁽³⁾| T: C T Pogson| OR: 110

7/1

Over three years since his last win but obviously now looking very well handicapped; can put in the occasional good performance but was bitterly disappointing last time out and needs to bounce back from that.

Form: 49383-6

Purcell's Bridge⁴¹

Age: 12| Weight: 10-10| J: Lorcan Murtagh| T: R Dobbin| OR: 105| D

6/1

Has not prevailed over fences since he scored at Haydock (2m7f) in March 2017; tailed off on reappearance run at Ayr in November and while weighted to win a race is not one to place too much reliance on these days.

Form: 8/1423-4

Forecasts

Horatio Hornblower (13/8), Chase The Wind (13/8), Purcell's Bridge (6/1), Cusheen Bridge (7/1), Al Co (14/1)

Last time out winner CHASE THE WIND will need a career best performance to land this but given the question marks over most of his rivals it may pay to side with the ten-year-old. He won well at Huntington on his latest start with the main danger to victory being if the ground gets too testing. Horatio Hornblower is another recent winner and he ran with credit on his seasonal reappearance to win at Ffos Las: A little vulnerable at the weights, he should still run his race. If Cusheen Bridge is in the mood, then he would have claims but his chances of victory may depend on whether he can stay with the early pace.