15:40 Fontwell

Tuesday 12 December 2023

All12:4013:1013:4014:1014:4015:1015:40

John And Maryanne Birch Memorial Handicap Hurdle

Off time: 15:40 | Winning time: 4m 59.23s

Thirtyfour Thirty¹⁹

Age: 4| Weight: 12-0| J: S Bowen| T: S Hosie| OR: 102

7/2

Fairly useful bumper winner for Nigel Twiston-Davies in the summer. Best of his three runs over hurdles when fourth of 9 in a Wincanton novice (21.4f, soft) 19 days ago but improvement needed back down in trip for this handicap debut.

Form: 212644

Play By The Rules^p,t²⁶

Age: 4| Weight: 11-13| J: Lorcan Murtagh| T: N J Hawke| OR: 101

8/1

Aided by first-time cheekpieces when decisively taking 13-runner handicap hurdle at Taunton (19f, heavy) in March. Followed that with a good second at Hereford next time but his reappearance effort last month wasn't overly inspiring.

Form: 37812-5

Highlander Casseul³⁶

Age: 6| Weight: 11-10| J: Harry Bannister| T: R Bandey| OR: 98

6/1

Fair ex-Irish maiden hurdler but has offered little in 3 starts for present connections.

Form: 6P3-490

Leading The Way^v1¹²

Age: 7| Weight: 10-12| J: Tabitha Worsley⁽³⁾| T: G Howell| OR: 86

22/1

Winless following 9 attempts over hurdles for Gillian Scott in Ireland and recent debut for this yard at Lingfield resulted in a heavy defeat. Visor applied.

Form: 0935-09

What's My Line^p²¹

Age: 6| Weight: 10-8| J: M Goldstein| T: M Madgwick| OR: 82| C

11/4

Off the mark over hurdles in a 21.7f handicap here last October and back to form on second run following a wind op when scoring at Lingfield (2m, good to soft) 3 weeks ago. Remains to be seen if he can back that up but will be a threat if able to do so off this 4 lb higher mark.

Form: 51P50-1

Smart Casual^t⁴⁰

Age: 5| Weight: 10-7| J: R P McLernon| T: A J Honeyball| OR: 81

2/1

Bumper run wasn't devoid of promise and hinted at ability in maiden/novice company last season. Failed to take a step forward when pulled up on return/handicap debut at Stratford (18.7f, heavy) but entitled to come on for that run and this 5-y-o is likely capable of better.

Form: 5956-P

Non-Runners

He's A Latchico⁴

Weight: 11-13| Age: 5

T: G & J Moore J: Rob Hargreaves

Ray's The One²⁴

Weight: 11-12| Age: 6

T: M Pattinson J: Tom Cannon

Forecasts

Smart Casual (2/1), He's A Latchico (5/2), What's My Line (11/4), Thirtyfour Thirty (7/2), Highlander Casseul (6/1), Play By The Rules (8/1), Ray's The One (10/1), Leading The Way (22/1)

The case for HE'S A LATCHICO is a pretty compelling one, given that he's 2-2 over C&D and found just one too good off this mark in a stronger race at Sandown on Saturday. What's My Line also has winning form here and looks the main danger on the back of his recent Lingfield success. Smart Casual is probably capable of better than he has shown thus far and is most interesting of the remainder.