Wye Valley Brewery Novices' Handicap Hurdle

Off time: 16:10 | Winning time: 5m 5.5s

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Selected odds by:

Scarlet Minstrel^v1²⁴⁴

Age: 5| Weight: 12-3| J: Aidan Coleman| T: J & A O'Neill| OR: 111

10/3

Recent convert to hurdles who improved from his first start to his second last summer and begins handicapping from a workable mark. Step up in trip looks to be within his compass and should go very well.

Form: 32

Our Delboy²⁵

Age: 5| Weight: 11-12| J: W T Kennedy| T: D McCain Jnr| OR: 106

7/2

Ran well on his handicap debut at Wetherby last time and that will serve him well today. 1lb lower for this contest and stepped up in trip, which pedigree suggests will take a bit of getting.

Form: 75836

Ain't No Limits⁷⁴

Age: 5| Weight: 11-11| J: R Johnson| T: C E Longsdon| OR: 105

13/2

Well beaten in all three starts this calendar year, with the latest of them being on his handicap debut from 2lb higher than today. Looks up against it on the evidence of that run.

Form: P36905-

Whatthebutlersaw⁷⁴

Age: 8| Weight: 11-10| J: M D Grant| T: D J S Ffrench Davis| OR: 104

7/1

5lb higher than when scoring at Fontwell in December. That was encouraging, but has struggled from this mark on two starts since then, including over this sort of trip and needs a revival in fortunes.

Form: U/31261-

Dragon De La Tour^p1³⁶

Age: 6| Weight: 11-4| J: Harry Skelton| T: D Skelton| OR: 98

11/4

Worth another try at this trip after running with credit over a similar distance at Wetherby two starts back. 1lb higher than that today and it was probably more the trip than the weight that did for him last time. Not ruled out.

Form: 69/4342-

Flow With Eve⁴⁷

Age: 8| Weight: 11-3| J: Mr W Potter⁽⁷⁾| T: W G M Turner| OR: 97

12/1

0-10 thus far and has not produced many performances that you can hang your hat on. Runner-up at Taunton in February from 3lb lower and beaten since. Percentage call is to take her on again.

Form: 658427

Racing Spirit¹¹⁵

Age: 5| Weight: 10-10| J: Lee Edwards| T: Dave Roberts| OR: 90

25/1

Step up in trip looks a positive for him after having insufficient pace over both 2m and 2m3f lately. Not many other points to latch on to, however, and hard to recommend this time.

Form: 3-3646

Welsh Designe^t¹²⁷

Age: 9| Weight: 10-0| J: Charlie Hammond⁽⁷⁾| T: S G Griffiths| OR: 77

16/1

Switches back to hurdles after three defeats over fences and insufficient encouragement from those that he is about to come good from 3lb out of the handicap.

Form: 5203F3

Forecasts

Dragon De La Tour (11/4), Scarlet Minstrel (10/3), Our Delboy (7/2), Ain't No Limits (13/2), Whatthebutlersaw (7/1), Flow With Eve (12/1), Welsh Designe (16/1), Racing Spirit (25/1)

Moderate fayre on offer here and first-time cheek pieces might just help DRAGON DE LA TOUR enough to get his nose in front now tried again over this far. Scarlet Minstrel tries this far for the first time and is likely to be thereabouts, while Our Delboy is another from an in-form yard and can take home some money.