Direct Group Handicap Chase

Off time: 18:50 | Winning time: 6m 25.4s

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Selected odds by:

Gentleman Jon^b,t⁸⁸

Age: 10| Weight: 12-0| J: H Cobden| T: C L Tizzard| OR: 127| CD

7/2

A while now since he won the Badger Ales Trophy around here by 25L (fortunate winner) off a 3lb higher mark (his last win). Form since then has been rather patchy and he's not the most reliable and needs to bounce back from a poor run at Exeter.

Form: 353F3P-

Orbasa^b⁴⁰

Age: 7| Weight: 12-0| J: Alexander Thorne⁽⁷⁾| T: P F Nicholls| OR: 127| C

5/2

Had more than one chance to add to his chasing wins but often fails to find much off the bridle. Usually turns in a creditable effort but not one to trust and on balance opposable here for win purposes.

Form: 644544-

Abbreviate^p⁵⁶

Age: 7| Weight: 11-12| J: Thomas Bellamy| T: K Bailey & M Nicholls| OR: 125

5/1

Has in the past shown some useful form over hurdles and matched that over fences but consistency has become an issue and that problem surfaced last time. Mark still looks a stiff one overall based on his current form.

Form: 436523-

Theatrical Star⁴⁵

Age: 12| Weight: 11-11| J: R Johnson| T: C L Tizzard| OR: 124

3/1

Appears to have lost the winning habit although he does have plenty of placed form to his name of late. His suspect jumping rather found him out last time and he generally finds a way to get himself beaten these days.

Form: 337425-

Swincombe Scorchio^t⁵⁴

Age: 8| Weight: 11-1| J: Nick Scholfield| T: P Gundry| OR: 114

8/1

Really struggled over fences since his handicap debut win off what looked to be a lenient mark (113). Now off a mark just 1lb higher but his recent form has been very below-par and looks to face a stiff task here.

Form: 14/PF78-

General Girling^b¹⁷

Age: 11| Weight: 10-0| J: P J Brennan| T: R J Hodges| OR: 88| CD

10/1

Usually a front-runner he's in a good spell at the moment although this is a tougher test than he usually faces from well out of the handicap. Good second at Newton Abbot last time but hard to fashion a case for him here.

Form: 12P332-

Non-Runners

Treaty Girl¹⁵⁹

Weight: 11-10| Age: 7

T: B Pauling J: D A Jacob

I'm In Charge¹³

Weight: 10-13| Age: 12

T: J G Cann J: Nick Scholfield

Forecasts

Orbasa (5/2), Theatrical Star (3/1), Gentleman Jon (7/2), I'm In Charge (9/2), Abbreviate (5/1), Treaty Girl (13/2), Swincombe Scorchio (8/1), General Girling (10/1)

Although those towards the head of the handicap like Gentleman Jon and Orbasa have some good form to their name neither are that reliable for win purposes. The same could be said of Theatrical Star and with Treaty Girl making her way back from a wind op and an absence this can be left to course specialist I’M IN CHARGE. He’s a three-time winner here and even though he’s lightly-raced of late his comeback over hurdles showed that he still had plenty of ability left and he’s been given a chance by the handicapper.