Seasons Greetings From Hexham Bookmakers Handicap Chase

Off time: 13:50 | Winning time: 5m 59.1s

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Selected odds by:

Orioninverness^p,t⁴⁴

Age: 8| Weight: 11-12| J: S Mulqueen⁽³⁾| T: Miss Lucinda V Russell| OR: 105| BF| CD

11/2

C&D winner (March 2017) who is effective on heavy ground; competes off the same mark as when beaten 1L by Bocasien Desbois (Ripstick third) over C&D (soft) on his penultimate start; trainer won this race in 2018 with Well Above Par.

Form: 24P-426

Talkofgold^p²⁶

Age: 7| Weight: 11-9| J: Danny Cook| T: M Todhunter| OR: 102| CD

6/1

Won over hurdles (maiden) here in March 2017; always on the back foot throughout when badly hampered by Kitty Fisher at the first fence at Newcastle (2m7½f, heavy) 26 days ago; some scope to brush up her fencing technique.

Form: 13-24P5

Casimir Du Clos²¹

Age: 7| Weight: 11-2| J: Sam Coltherd⁽³⁾| T: W Coltherd| OR: 95| CD

6/5

His form figures here during the autumn read 121; is effective over both hurdles and fences at a range of trips (2m-2m4f); now rated 15lb higher than when beating Roll Of Thunder (Benarty Hill fourth) by 3L in October.

Form: 145-121

Benarty Hill¹⁵

Age: 9| Weight: 10-3| J: Alison Clarke⁽⁷⁾| T: Kenny Johnson| OR: 82| D

5/1

Won over fences for Liam Lennon at Down Royal (2m4f, heavy) in January 2018 and has eased steadily in the weights in five starts for Kenny Johnson; has related course form with Orioninverness and Casimir Du Clos.

Form: 5-55443

Ripstick³⁴

Age: 8| Weight: 10-0| J: C O'Farrell| T: J Walton| OR: 78| D

4/1

Split today's rivals Orioninverness (second) and Benarty Hill (fourth) when finishing 1½L third to Bocasien Desbois over C&D (soft) in October; well short of the mark since, and is now a 12-race rules maiden.

Form: 0-P3375

Non-Runners

Kitty Fisher²⁶

Weight: 10-4| Age: 9

T: Miss S E Forster J: Thomas Willmott

Forecasts

Casimir Du Clos (6/5), Kitty Fisher (7/2), Ripstick (4/1), Benarty Hill (5/1), Orioninverness (11/2), Talkofgold (6/1)

A trappy race with a plethora of interrelated form lines. Kitty Fisher remains handily weighted off 10st 4lb despite a productive spell of form at this track during the spring and she's expected to improve for her recent comeback run (third) at Newcastle. However, on heavy ground the more solid option is the progressive seven-year-old CASIMIR DU CLOS who has fired on all cylinders here (fences and hurdles) on each of his last three starts. Furthermore, his trainer Stuart Coltherd was among the winners at Wetherby on Saturday with a very similar type (Warendorf).