GYTO Monday Notebook Double

The money was down for CLONDAW PRETENDER at Sedgefield last month and he may well have made a race of it with Tom Creen had he not fell two out. He still looked to be moving strongly to my eye so I definitely think it is worth forgiving. The step up in trip here should be firmly in his favour and he is worth chancing to gain compensation. Fantomas was lucky to win over fences at Uttoxeter last September and has been beaten plenty of times since. He ran one of his better races when runner-up at Southwell last month though and could threaten if building on that again. He does need to jump better though. Irish raider Movie King is also likely to get competitive.

This looks a great opportunity for THELASTHIGHKING to get back in the winners enclosure. This flashy chestnut looked really progressive beating a good yardstick in Galop De Chasse at Wincanton last season and then followed up at Southwell beating In Excelsis Deo. The form of that last win has been franked since with the runner-up chasing home Dancing On My Own in a good race at Cheltenham and the third Quid Pro Quo winning at Southwell since. I thought he ran a cracker on return bumping into Corrigeen Rock at Kempton and that has been boosted already with the fifth Xcitations winning at Sandown next time. He has more to come and looks worth keeping on side.