held up, headway on outside 3f out, tracked leaders approaching 1f out, ridden to lead close home
prominent, ridden over 1f out, weakened final furlong
mid-division and keen, headway on inside and every chance approaching 2f out, no room final 2f, eased close home
held up mid-field, pushed along and headway 3f out, every chance approaching 1f out, led inside final furlong, headed close home
led after 3f, ridden over 1f out, headed inside final furlong, eased
held up and keen, mid-division, ridden 2f out, soon weakened
held up rear, headway 2f out, ridden and every chance 1f out, one pace final furlong
slowly into stride, mid-division until ridden and weakened 1f out
mid-division, headway 3f out, ridden over 2f out, every chance 1f out, weakened inside final furlong
chased leaders, with leader over 3f out, ridden over 2f out, weakened quickly
mid-division, ridden and weakened 2f out
in touch until ridden and weakened 2f out
With many of these closely-matched on ratings, this has the look of a tricky affair. A long shortlist of possibles consists of, among others, Etmaam, Sailmaker, Kristal's Dream and Kythia, with the selection being Kythia. The selection has shown plenty of promise to date, not least when finishing fifth in a Doncaster nursery last October, not far behind the likes of Hazyview, who has done well this year, and around three lengths behind the winner Kristal's Dream. The last-named is four pounds worse off today so needs to have improved. She can certainly achieve that, and more on her later. Etmaam should improve at this trip, as should the well-bred Sailmaker, and as did Folkestone winner Magic Amigo when he scored last time, although he looks to need to improve again today. Slavonic's form is beginning to look better now although you could question his attitude from his decent Brighton run last time - the winner there, Meadaaf having run on Sunday at Ripon so check that result. Kristal's Dream, who was sent off favourite at Brighton finished just ahead of Slavonic that day and is now a pound better off. Albinus is a half-sister to the Champion Stakes winner Alborada and has shown ability and now has first-time blinkers fitted, while Beauchamp Star has been knocking at the door in maidens. As you can tell, it's a competitive race, with Kythia another to pay close attention to, while Morag is another that could improve at today's trip. As we say, this has the look of a competitive race, with the vote going to Kythia.
