Hereford,26 February 2007, Soft

1:40 WBX.com World Bet Exchange "National Hunt" Maiden Hurdle (Div I) (Class 4) (4yo+) 8 hdles 2m1f

[off 1:40] £2,277.10, £668.50, £334.25, £166.95

1 Tisseman (IRE) N J Henderson 5 11-3 Marcus Foley 6/4F — —

2 5 Ashwell Lad (IRE) R T Phillips 5 11-3 Richard Johnson 4/1 — —

3 2½ Iris´s Flyer Jonjo O´Neill 5 11-3 Noel Fehily 20/1 — —

4 12 Castlemainevillage (IRE) M R Bosley 7 11-3 Sean Curran 14/1 — —

5 3½ Killultagh Star (IRE) Noel T Chance 7 11-3 Tom Doyle 20/1 — —

6 20 Starlight Promise (IRE) V R A Dartnall 6 10-5 t James White(5) 8/1 — —

7 6 Gunnabelil P Bowen 5 10-10 T J O´Brien 16/1 — —

8 1½ Bubbs N G Ayliffe 5 10-10 R J Greene 16/1 — —

UR Mag Num (FR) Evan Williams 7 11-3 Paul Moloney 9/2 — —

F Scots Brook Terror Mrs N S Evans 5 10-7 Paddy Merrigan(3) 100/1 — —

PU Bora Shaamit (IRE) M Scudamore 5 10-10 Tom Scudamore 100/1 — —

11 ran TIME 4m 15.40s (slow by 25.40s) TOTAL SP 119%

1st OWNER: Mrs Christopher Hanbury BRED: P J O'Connor TRAINER: N J Henderson

2nd OWNER: P Surtees & G Taylor

3rd OWNER: Robert Lester

TOTE WIN £2.00 PL £1.10, £1.50, £3.90; Ex £11.30; CSF £7.35

The jockeys reported the ground to be a mixture of good to soft and soft. This first division of the maiden hurdle was not as competitive as the numbers suggested and TISSEMAN was always going like the winner to score with something up his sleeve.

Whatever the reason for his defeat last time in a similar contest on his hurdles debut, he showed no signs of weakening here and remains a horse who is going the right way despite that reverse.

On his first try over hurdles, Ashwell Lad had no answers after attempting to bustle up the winner, and he should benefit for the experience.

Iris's Flyer showed improved form compared to his debut hurdles effort and seems to be going the right way.