By Charlie McCann
Soft ground is the order of the day at Bangor this afternoon and Fascino Rustico (1.10) once cost connections over £300,000. He has left the yard of Champions trainer Paul Nicholls since he last run at Ayr back in April but Dan Skelton has a history of improving horses from other yards and this Bumper winner is taken to make a belated winning seasonal reappearance.
Donald McCain had a welcome winner at Ayr last weekend and Go Conquer was an impressive winner at Kelso last month. He carries a 6lb penalty for that success, however, and may struggle to give the weight to the selection.
Relic Rock (1.40) has left Steve Gollings and joined Brian Ellison since beaten at odds on at Doncaster on his reappearance. AP McCoy takes over and has ridden the horse twice previously winning at Wetherby before finishing runner up in the Aintree Bumper back in the spring. He will be very hard to beat especially of the ground continues to dry out.
Former point winner Eastern Witness begins his chasing career off a very workable mark having shown glimpses of form over timber. This step up to 3m promises to suit the Venetia Williams-trained 8-y-old but Jonjo O'Neill's yard are going to turn the corner sooner rather than later and Matripajo (2.10) is a half-brother to Gold Cup winner War Of Attrition who ran well at Ffos Las on his chase debut before disappointing at Southwell when the yard weren't firing in November.
The feature 2m 4f Chase is a competitive heat with Jackies Solitaire making the long journey from Dorset for Anthony Honeyball and Denis O'Regan. The selection is very well treated on her best form but Big Casino (3.10) ran well in a better race at Aintree last time when beaten just over 10L and, taking in the excellent conditional jockey's allowance, is 10lb lower this afternoon.
At Sedgefield a market mover for Un Guet Apens would be worth noting reverting back to the smaller obstacles but Kalimantan (2.30) threw his race away at Taunton last week, when veering badly right on the run-in, and will be hard to beat if in the same form if not the same mood.
Tweedo Paradiso (2.00) looks to be slowly getting the hang of things of fences and he is taken to reverse Catterick form from last month on 8lbs better terms for the length-and-a-quarter he has to make up. Rose Dobbin had an excellent winner at Musselburgh at New Year and the selection has run well in defeat at today's track previously. Further significant rain would be a negative.
Jennie Candlish is another stable in excellent form of late and Basford Ben (3.00) has been given three weeks to get over last month's Carlisle win when staying on very strongly from a 5lb lower mark. Ringa Bay will certainly appreciate the step up in trip having stayed on dourly over 2m 4f last time when scoring at Leicester from a 5lb lower mark.
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