Expert Analysis

The winner finally got his head in front in this race at the third time of asking. The runner up has a poor win to run ratio and has generally been more adept at filling the runner up position in recent times. The third horse to finish prefers softer ground and the fourth was another from the Ditcheat stables to perform well below his best. Four of the five finishers are in the veteran stage of their careers so plenty of reasons to question the quality of this prestigious handicap chase.

GUSTAVIAN I doubt he will benefit from such an easy lead on another day. He jumped round in his own time before quickening away in the closing stages. His jockey made plenty of use of his light weight and he never looked in danger from a very early stage of the race. The handicapper has raised him by 8lbs to 135 which will make life much more difficult next time.

SCARFACE He ran well enough without ever threatening to reel in the all the way winner. He has now finished as the runner up in four of his latest seven chases and a record like this is usually more than a coincidence.

CREDO The stable mate of the winner and a horse that tends to be at his best on softer ground than the good going he competed on here. His third place finish further highlights the sub-standard nature of this renewal.

THREEUNDERTHRUFIVE Another below par performance from a Ditcheat runner. This was his seasonal debut run and the Paul Nicholls horses that are running okay tend to be the one who already have a run under their belts. Either way, he was beaten more than 25 lengths in what was a particularly poor renewal of this grade two chase.