15:05 Exeter

Sunday 11 February 2018

All14:0014:3015:0515:3516:1016:4017:10

Pertemps Network Handicap Hurdle

Off time: 15:05 | Winning time: 6m 48.4s

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Selected odds by:

Overland Flyer^t³⁷¹

Age: 7| Weight: 11-12| J: Sam Twiston-Davies| T: P F Nicholls| OR: 139| BF

10/1

Showed a lot of promise last season when winning at Taunton on his debut but failed to follow that up in a deeper race for novices at Musselburgh (possible race came too soon). Now enters handicaps for the first time and worth a chance to show himself capable of better.

Form: 211/14-

Lovenormoney^p⁴¹

Age: 7| Weight: 11-10| J: R Johnson| T: W Greatrex| OR: 137| D

11/4

Showed his best form when winning on his second handicap start at Chepstow (beat Present Times 9L) but failed to build on that next time out at Cheltenham in a deeper contest (also 10lb higher). Has to cope with the same mark here and more needed.

Form: 313-617

Dadsintrouble²²

Age: 8| Weight: 11-10| J: Alan Johns| T: Tim Vaughan| OR: 137| D

12/1

Has to really show his best yet over fences and failed to complete last time and now switches back to hurdles. Progressive when last seen in this sphere and looks at home over this trip although he has to prove himself off this mark.

Form: 193-F4U

Charming Zen²⁹

Age: 6| Weight: 11-9| J: James Bowen⁽³⁾| T: N J Henderson| OR: 136| BF

8/1

Scored on his only run for both his two previous trainers that included Dan Skelton for whom he won a Doncaster novice in good style around a year ago. Only seen once since then when making his stable/handicap debut for this yard; dropped 3lb and capable of better.

Form: 11-7

Solomn Grundy⁴¹

Age: 8| Weight: 11-5| J: R T Dunne| T: N P Mulholland| OR: 132

7/1

Has been showing some decent form over fences of late (runner-up last two starts) but may not want an out-and-out slog. Now back over hurdles a sphere that he has shown some decent form in but is 9lb above his last winning mark.

Form: 85-P622

Poker Play⁴⁷

Age: 5| Weight: 11-1| J: T Scudamore| T: D Pipe| OR: 128

5/1

Needs to bounce back from a poor run at Wincanton last time when he dropped away very quickly. Prior to that he showed that he could cope with a race like this when finishing 5th at Cheltenham and given his novice form he's not written off here.

Form: 2120-5P

Dancing Shadow^b1⁸

Age: 9| Weight: 10-11| J: Nick Scholfield| T: V R A Dartnall| OR: 124| C

8/1

Has looked very moody in his last two runs over fences and would need to show a better demeanour to take a hand here. Blinkers now go on for the first time and those would need to bring about major improvement for him to take a hand here.

Form: 1P0-10P

Present Times⁶⁴

Age: 7| Weight: 10-4| J: Adam Wedge| T: Evan Williams| OR: 117| BF| CD

3/1

Got the job done three times in handicap hurdles last year with the last of those wins coming over C&D off a mark of 110. Bumped into Lovenormoney who was well handicapped at the time when his winning run came to an end at Chepstow; should run well this time around.

Form: 5211-12

Non-Runners

Delire D'Estruval⁵⁵

Weight: 11-8| Age: 5

T: B Pauling J: D A Jacob

Forecasts

Lovenormoney (11/4), Present Times (3/1), Poker Play (5/1), Solomn Grundy (7/1), Delire D'Estruval (7/1), Dancing Shadow (8/1), Charming Zen (8/1), Overland Flyer (10/1), Dadsintrouble (12/1)

An interesting renewal and this race has a good record of producing Cheltenham Festival winners (two of the last four winners being successful there). Overland Flyer looked a useful horse last year and proved he can win when fresh and along with Charming Zen who needs to bounce back from a poor run but is capable of doing so look to provide a couple of dangers. The overall vote goes to bottom weight PRESENT TIMES who is better off with his conqueror here last time Lovenormoney and can regain the winning thread over a C&D he’s been successful over before. Poker Play could play a part if he bounces back from his previous poor run while a duo that return from chasing Solomn Grundy and Dadsintrouble both have a chance having previously been useful in this sphere.