Crooked Throw towards rear, steady headway into 3rd 1f out, soon challenged under pressure and led, strongly pressed and kept on well inside final furlong, all out

Vaqueras towards rear, headway halfway, led 2f out, strongly pressed and narrowly headed inside final furlong, kept on well, just failed

Victram towards rear, ridden and stayed on without threatening from 2f out, 3rd and no impression inside final furlong, kept on same pace

Alarazi towards rear, ran on under pressure on outer without threatening from under 2f out

Estrela Brage mid-division, headway to track leaders and ridden 1f out, soon no impression, kept on same pace

Dul Ar An Ol towards rear, kept on without threatening under pressure from under 2f out

Royal Island chased leaders, kept on same pace under pressure from under 2f out

Celtic Dane mid-division, kept on without threatening under pressure from under 2f out

Indian Pace towards rear, headway to track leaders 2f out, soon no impression under pressure, kept on same pace

Head Of The River soon towards rear, no danger and kept on same pace from under 2f out

Propinquity towards rear, no danger and kept on same pace from 2f out

Moody Tunes close up, no extra under pressure from under 2f out

Tis Mighty mid-division, improved and on terms 2f out, soon no impression under pressure, no extra from over 1f out

Akua´Ba tracked leaders, weakened under pressure from 1f out

Ginger Princess never a factor

Shayrazan towards rear, headway on inner when not clear run over 2f out, soon no impression

Little White Lie never better than mid-division

Hard Rock City prominent, 5th halfway, lost place under 2f out, soon weakened

Cashel Bay prominent early, dropped towards rear and no impression under pressure from before halfway

Takestan mid-division, no extra from 2f out

Monthly Medal soon close up, weakened under pressure from under 2f out

Giant Slalom soon led, headed 2f out, weakened

Fremen towards rear for most, no extra from under 2f out

Sciatin chased leaders, weakened under pressure from under 2f out

Green Tobasco mid-division best, weakened from under 2f out

Incline prominent, ridden and weakened quickly from over 3f out

The first competitive handicap of the current campaign attracted another big field with Ridge Boy the only absentee due to ground leaving nine runners out of the handicap proper. This looked a strong renewal with the 102-rated CROOKED THROW coming from off the pace to lead inside the final furlong and going one better than the second place he achieved in this race 12 months ago. He survived a stewards’ enquiry after coming across and interfering with French raider Estrela Brage and his trainer Charlie Swan admitted he wasn’t confident beforehand. “I thought he had no chance out of stall one and with that weight but he loves heavy ground,” Swan said of the winner who had the benefit of a recent run on the all-weather at Dundalk.

Vaqueras carried 1lb over and ran a cracker under this light-weight. Fit from hurdling, he travelled smoothly to take up the running passing the 2f marker but just found one too goodVictram had won this race three years ago and this tough competitor, who has failed to recapture his best hurdling form of late, was another to appreciate these conditions.

Alarazi came from a long way back to get into the frame. The Spectrum colt landed a 1m maiden in similar conditions here last March and he looks capableof better on this evidence.

Dur Ar On Ol was another fit from hurdling and this wasn’t a bad effort with four-time Flat winner Royal Island another to perform with some credit.

Indian Pace, 1lb out of the handicap proper, was fancied my many but after making some headway after halfway was soon struggling to make any impression along with Head Of The River, who probably wants further, and Tis Mighty, who dropped away after holding every chance obviously not happy on this surface.

Little White Lie was fancied for the Doncaster equivalent but never got in a blow and it was a similar story here, while sole British challenger Fremen, in front of Ger Lyons’ runner on Town Moor, finished behind him this time with the ground proving a negative factor. [TO’H]

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