![]() ![]() The oldest runner in the field and the stats are against him as no 9-y-o has ever won this race. There is no doubt that rain would aid his cause and he is up against some more unexposed types here. ![]() Image: Knappers Hill ridden by Harry Cobden goes on to win the bet365 Novices' Championship Final Handicap HurdleĪ front-runner who boasts a load of experience and who enjoyed a fruitful campaign last term when notching up four wins, all on soft ground, including over this course and distance last January. The champion trainer has been quiet of late but that is about to change. Now 7lb higher, he tries over further again and you suspect there will be more to come, but he will need it. ![]() His one try at around this trip came in the EBF Final at Sandown but the soft ground there didn't suit him at all and he bounced back to end the season on a high at Newton Abbot before a fluent success back at Sandown, both of those on good ground and over two miles. He then went on to show quite useful form with another success at Wincanton, a solid third to Jonbon at Ascot before a respectable sixth in the Betfair Hurdle. Indeed, when he landed the odds here on his hurdling debut at this meeting a year ago, he was far from foot perfect. Knappers Hillīoasted some very smart bumper form but it is fair to say that he took a while to get the hang of jumping hurdles. Usually quietly ridden, he will enjoy the sound surface and can be expected to be staying on well at the death. Like last year, he lines up here after a break - this time after failing to stay the marathon trip of the Ascot Stakes on the Flat in June.Īfter last year's run here, he was campaigned over three miles in his three subsequent hurdles starts and performed well, suggesting that a bigger stamina test over hurdles seems to suit him nowadays. Proschema took part in last year's contest and fared quite well in fifth place off a mark of 142, 3lb lower than this year's rating. ![]()
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