1st - €11,385.00 2nd - €2,805.00 3rd - €1,320.00 4th - €825.00 Fine and cold

FormscanBy Gary Carson - The changing ground looks to have worked against a few of these and SHABRA'S BERTOLINI may be worth a shot. He's a tough sort and battled on gamely to score at Navan last time. He may have been value for more than his winning distance then after pecking at the last and should still be on a competitive mark after a 5lb rise. Modem appreciated the better ground when scoring at Navan last time and although there looks more to come from the four-year-old he did struggle on testing conditions previously at Gowran which would be a worry. Likewise Shemshal looks at his best on a sounder surface and probably hasn't run since October in the hope that it would be a decent surface here. Balkinstown is an interesting one off a nice low weight. He has been knocking on the door and has run well in testing conditions on his last two outings. Mind The Pennies ran a cracker at Navan last time and despite a 5lb rise could be a big player here. Mr Diablo looks to have a tough enough task under top-weight.

An extended handicap hurdle for four yrs yrs old and upwards that have not won a hurdle race before 4th May, 2014 (123 = 11st 10lb)
Weights - Top weight in the original hadicap; shall not be less than 11st 10lb
Penalties - Winner of a hurdle race after calculation of the handicap to carry 6lb extra for each hurdle race won. Any horse rated above 123 shall initially be treated as having that rating and the highest weight allotted shall be 11st 10lb. Subsequently, the excess over 123 in any rating shall be added to the weight allotted to that horse. (For the purpose of this note, any four year old rated above 123 shall have the applicable weight for age allowance then prevailing deducted from the horse's rating prior to the original calculation of the handicap)