Think Differently At Vertem Handicap Hurdle

Off time: 15:42 | Winning time: 3m 56.79s

Swaffham Bulbeck⁶⁷

Age: 7| Weight: 11-12| J: Oakley Brown⁽⁵⁾| T: B Ellison| OR: 129| D

4/1

Fairly useful hurdler who reached the frame in jumpers bumpers here in January/February. Can be competitive off this mark.

Form: 185324

Beach Break^b²⁶

Age: 7| Weight: 11-11| J: Theo Gillard⁽⁵⁾| T: D McCain Jnr| OR: 128| DWS

11/1

Won at Sedgefield in October. Runner-up twice on AW Flat at Southwell in January and claims if able to shrug off a lesser run back over hurdles at Stratford last time.

Form: 28-4310

El Borracho^h¹¹

Age: 6| Weight: 10-10| J: R T Dunne| T: O Greenall & J Guerriero| OR: 113| D

3/1

Fairly useful on Flat and impressive in winning back-to-back maiden/novice hurdles at Southwell last summer. Mark a stumbling block in handicaps since.

Form: 115445

Lively Citizen³⁵

Age: 6| Weight: 10-10| J: Jordan Nailor⁽³⁾| T: D J Jeffreys| OR: 113| D

11/10

Belied odds of 33/1 when landing a big-field Cheltenham handicap in November. Has posted a couple of good runner-up efforts since and looks the one to beat here.

Form: 235122

Whiskey And Water¹¹

Age: 5| Weight: 10-5| J: Nathan Moscrop⁽³⁾| T: B Ellison| OR: 108

11/1

Second at Uttoxeter last summer but no impact over hurdles this winter, including at Warwick just 11 days ago. Can only be watched for now.

Form: 3-267P7

Non-Runners

Orkan³⁵

Weight: 11-5| Age: 7

T: M Walford J: Jamie Hamilton

Forecasts

Lively Citizen (11/10), El Borracho (3/1), Swaffham Bulbeck (4/1), Orkan (9/2), Whiskey And Water (11/1), Beach Break (11/1)

LIVELY CITIZEN is going the right way and is the obvious one here. Orkan should find this a bit easier than the Morebattle last time and can give the selection most to do ahead of Donald McCain's Beach Break.