Albert Bartlett Scottish Trial Novices' Hurdle

Off time: 15:40 | Winning time: 5m 48.5s

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Selected odds by:

Ballycrystal⁵⁹

Age: 6| Weight: 11-13| J: Danny Cook| T: B Ellison| OR: 130

11/2

Two from three over hurdles, with his sole defeat being a narrow one, and coming over an inadequte 2m4f to The Unit at Doncaster in November. Will handle soft ground well, and now rated 130 is very much still on an upward curve.

Form: 1319-12

Soupy Soups⁴⁹

Age: 6| Weight: 11-13| J: N D Fehily| T: N P Mulholland| OR: 130

15/2

Irish point-to-point and Ffos Las bumper winner who has taken a while to come good over hurdles, but has won his last two over shorter trips at Wincanton and Fakenham. Now rated 130, but would have some slight reservations that the assessor has over-reacted to that ten length Fakenham success. This is a much stronger race, and he steps up in trip.

Form: 1/13-383

Monbeg Charmer⁸⁵

Age: 6| Weight: 11-10| J: B S Hughes| T: C E Longsdon| OR: 130

10/3

Winning pointer who demolished the reasonable Northern yardstick Gully's Edge in a Carlisle bumper in October 2015, and returned from a ten month absence to score on hurdles debut (maiden) at Worcester in November 2016 (2m4f). Beaten at odds on next time at Wetherby and faces his stiffest task to date over hurdles today, stepping up in trip to three miles.

Form: 1/17-12

Overland Flyer^t²⁵

Age: 6| Weight: 11-10| J: Sam Twiston-Davies| T: P F Nicholls

5/6

Sister to 2m4f hurdle and chase winner Sizing Symphony who produced an emphatic winning hurdles debut at Taunton last month. Making all over this trip, he ran out an unchallenged 22 length winner of a maiden hurdle (3/1). Two from three previously in point-to-points, this represents a sharp step up in class, but this track isn't too dissimilar to Taunton, and he represents leading connections.

Form: 211-

Seemorelights²¹

Age: 5| Weight: 11-10| J: Mr Ryan Nichol| T: A M Thomson

25/1

Much like his more illustrious stablemate Seeyouatmidnight (Hexham), he ran out a shock 66/1 winner of a novices hurdle. Whilst his Kelso success was very much unexpected on his hurdles debut, there appeared to be no fluke about it with previous winners placed, and this step upto 3m looks sure to suit given his point-to-point background.

Form: 54671

Non-Runners

Ami Desbois¹

Weight: 11-13| Age: 7

T: D Killahena & G McPherson J: Kielan Woods

Skipthecuddles¹

Weight: 11-10| Age: 6

T: D Killahena & G McPherson J: W T Kennedy

Forecasts

Overland Flyer (5/6), Ami Desbois (5/2), Monbeg Charmer (10/3), Ballycrystal (11/2), Soupy Soups (15/2), Skipthecuddles (20/1), Seemorelights (25/1)

Ami Debois has the form in the book to take this with his second placed effort behind Wholestone at Cheltenham in December the clear standout form on offer. However, both Overland Flyer and BALLYCRYSTAL are still seemingly firmly on the upgrade (and not yet fully tested like Ami Debois) and if the ground comes up soft, the latter could be very tough to beat, having ploughed through deep winter ground in a much weaker race than this at Newcastle in December. 1. Ballycrystal 2. Ami Desbois 3. Overland Flyer