With the visor back on and returning to fences, Friary Rock won a shade comfortably under a fine ride from Champion jockey Brian Hughes.
FRIARY ROCK, a winner over fences in Ireland last summer, had run his best race for Laura Morgan over hurdles at Southwell last month (with the visor back on). He built upon that improved effort back over fences with a convincing win, and should continue to fare well from what is a workable handicap mark.
The Vollan continues to defy the handicapper, under another fine ride from Adam Wedge. He cruised into the lead in the home straight and won a shade comfortably.
THE VOLLAN really put his stamp on the race in the straight, making it three wins in his last four and defying a 9lb rise in the process. This ground suits him ideally but he'll need to continue to progress to defy a mark likely to be in the 120s.
Given a very mature and sensible ride by young conditional Lewis Dobb, Illusion of Time made an impressive winning debut in the Bumper at Stratford, beating a previous winner in the process.
Given a very mature and sensible ride by young conditional Lewis Dobb, Illusion of Time made an impressive winning debut in the Bumper at Stratford, beating a previous winner in the process.
Patiently ridden by Adam Wedge, The Vollan continued his good run of form by cruising into the lead round the home turn and winning comfortably.
THE VOLLAN got badly hampered when a clear second off this mark at Hexham eight days earlier but avoided trouble on this occasion to repeat his C&D win from earlier in the month with ease. He's been competitive off higher marks over hurdles so remains with some scope over fences, with his stable in cracking form.
Making all the running under Adam Wedge, Tardree won his first race over Hurdles as an Odds On shot should, very comfortably.
TARDREE, not beaten far into second on his last two starts, was handed a simple task when the overnight odds-on market leader was taken out during the morning, and the 8yo got it done in the style the market suggested he would, securing a first win as a hurdler.
Reverting to Hurdles, Licklighter who is a useful Chaser, made all the running under Adam Wedge to win very comfortably.
LICKLIGHTER had a sound chance on his chase form, but his latest hurdles effort was disappointing. He was back to form here, and having dictated the gallop in modestly-run affair won without being asked a serious question. In this sort of form he can follow up with a penalty.
Having won 3 chases already this year and gone up 30 lbs, Clear The Runway was switched back to hurdles and landed a comfortable, all the way success under Adam Wedge.
CLEAR THE RUNWAY had thrived over fences since landing a gamble at Musselburgh in February, adding two further wins at this track and rising a collective total of over 30lb in the weights. Therefore, this looked the perfect opportunity to break the duck over hurdles, and so it proved making every single yard of the running.
Stepping up to 3 miles, Percussion was given a patient ride by Adam Wedge. he cruised into contention down the back and won comfortably.
PERCUSSION was an emphatic winner over 2m4f here last time (in a first-time tongue-tie and cheekpieces combination) and he repeated the dose off a 9lb higher mark, and over an extra four furlongs. He was patiently handled by his rider, but could be called the winner as soon as he loomed into contention leaving the back straight. He'll be hit hard by the assessor after this easy win.
The fitting of a tongue tie and drop in class helped Seemingly So regain winning form under a confident ride from Adam Wedge.
SEEMINGLY SO had been nowhere near the level he achieved when winning at Musselburgh in two subsequent starts, but took well to the fitting of a tongue-tie, to go with the cheekpieces, and bounced back to form dropping to a Class 5 event. His profile shows it's highly unlikely he'll back this up, unless the tongue-tie continues to have a positive effect.
CLEAR THE RUNWAY took a grip but jumped with aplomb and won eased down having cruised clear in the straight, adding a second C&D success to his CV. He's taken well to fences with form figures now reading 12121 and he certainly looks capable of adding to that, especially if kept on the go.
PERCUSSION put up a career-best. With a tongue-tie and first-time cheekpieces, he travelled strongly and sauntered clear to score by a wide margin. The drop back to 2m4f clearly suited him and he may improve a little more.
FIRE AWAY hadn't shown his best on two starts over fences this spring after a break (up against it last time, when sporting first-time visor) but set the standard now back over hurdles and returned to novice company. A couple of untidy jumps in the straight didn't aid his cause but he kept finding enough to hold off the second. His lower hurdle mark could prove tempting before going back over fences.
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