TAUNTON 14:10

All 8 ran. Fences: 14.

Time: 4m 50.5s

Overrounds: Industry SP 116%, Betfair SP 100.7%

A messy race, with a muddling pace contributing to a bunched finish in which a few weren't seen to best advantage, whilst Henry King would also almost certainly have been involved but for falling 3 out - as a result, it's probably best to treat the bare form with a degree of caution, though that's not to say several of these won't go on to better things in similar company this winter.

BLACK RIVER (FR) in first-time cheekpieces, got back on track with a much more convincing display, both in terms of form and his finishing effort; waited with, travelled smoothly, good progress from halfway, close up when badly hampered 3 out, not fluent last, rallied strongly to assert run-in, well on top finish; came with big reputation from France (where he gave weight and a 6-length beating to Vautour at Auteuil) and may yet do better still now that, hopefully, he seems to be over the problems which have blighted his British career to date.

IRISH CAVALIER (IRE) stepped up on reappearance/chasing debut, even allowing for the fact he enjoyed the run of things more than most; prominent, jumped fluently, went on circuit out, headed after 4 out, rallying for pressure when left in front next, headed again run-in, no extra close home; likely to prove best up to 19f for time being.

ALLEZ VIC (IRE) sent chasing, shaped encouragingly on first outing since leaving James M. Barcoe after 7 months off and left impression should have finished closer; held up, jumped fine, travelled strongly, some headway back straight, forced to challenge wide latter stages, stayed on strongly late, nearest at the finish having been disadvantaged by the run of the race; open to improvement and well up to winning similar event.

SEVENTH SKY (GER) back up in trip, returned to form but made hard work of things; close up, bumped first, went quite badly in snatches from early final circuit, rallied well late on; uncertain to reproduce this form next time.

RALLY fairly useful over hurdles, ran to similar level sent chasing on first outing since leaving Nicky Henderson after 12 months off; mid-division, off the bridle before most, in touch when blundered 3 out, rallied after, stuck to task and seemed to find this barely enough of a test; may prove best at 2½m+, though remains to be seen if able to back this up given his patchy record over hurdles.

THE SKYFARMER has yet to match hurdles form in this sphere and was again let down by jumping; held up, not always fluent, slow 5 out, still plenty to do end of back straight, unsuited by the way the race developed and never landed a serious blow; may yet do better, though clearly room for improvement in jumping.

HENRY KING (IRE) was let down by jumping and is proving expensive to follow; made running as usual, jumped left, headed circuit out, went on again after 4 out, every chance (albeit with plenty of challengers queueing up) when fell 3 out, looked sure to play hand in finish.

COLD MARCH (FR) was a fairly useful hurdler/progressive winning chaser on French soil but didn't last long on this first outing since leaving B. Lefevre; mid-division, badly hampered and fell first; remains open to improvement, though has been allotted a stiff-looking BHA mark.