behind, headway over 3f out, chased leaders over 1f out, never on terms
made all, hard ridden over 1f out, drew clear inside final furlong, redily
mid-division, headway over 3f out, chased leaders over 1f out, soon no impression
steadied start, pulled hard towards rear, headway over 3f out, chased leaders inside final furlong, never able to challenge
tracked leaders, effort over 2f out, kept on well final furlong, no chance with winner
tracked leader, lost place over 3f out
took keen hold, in touch, weakened well over 2f out
A race restricted to handicappers that have not won a race so far this year though that doesn’t reflect badly on CHANTECLER given he’s only had the one outing. He ran well for second here last month and today’s shorter distance shouldn’t be a problem in soft going. Icebuster can get involved but hasn’t won since 2013 let alone this year and the unexposed Banham looks a bigger threat if acting on the testing ground. Cliffs Of Dover was placed here on his penultimate start and Peak Storm won four times last term. Both are preferred to the returning Gold Merlion who steps up in trip for her belated reappearance.
Mister Musicmaster 9-1 (9-1) Chased leaders, ridden to lead narrowly over 1f out, headed inside final furlong, no extra and lost 2 places well inside final furlong, 4th of 7, 4 1/2l behind Gratzie (9-7) at Bath 1m hcp (3) fm in Jun.
Icebuster 20-1 (8-12) Tracked leaders, ridden over 1f out, kept on to take 2nd place towards finish, 2nd of 11, 2 1/4l behind Starchitect (9-5) at Salisbury 1m 6f hcp (4) gd in May.
Peak Storm 12-1 (8-11) Chased leading trio, pushed laong over 2f out, kept on inside final furlong, went 3rd near finish, no chance with winner, 3rd of 7, 4l behind Gratzie (9-7) at Bath 1m hcp (3) fm in Jun.
Chantecler 8-1 (9-7) Steadied start, took keen hold and soon tracking leaders, 4th 8f out, effort on outside over 2f out, went 2nd over 1f out, ridden and stayed on same pace inside final furlong, 2nd of 7, 1 1/4l behind Sharjah (9-4) at Bath 1m 4f hcp (5) gd in May.
Loading (IRE) 12-1 (9-3) Held up, mid-division, ridden over 1f out, weakened inside final furlong, 5th of 9, 11l behind Baydar (9-7) at Newmarket 1m 2f hcp (4) gs in Jun.
Gold Merlion (IRE) 16-1 (8-10) Soon chased leaders, pushed along from halfway, no extra from 2f out, 23rd of 30, 18 3/4l behind Glass House (8-10) at Curragh 6f stks Yielding in Sep.
Banham (USA) 10-1 (8-13) Unseated rider on way to post, soon led, ridden and headed over 1f out, no impression when lost 2nd final 100 yards and weakened into 4th last 50 yards, 4th of 8, 2 3/4l behind Shabbah (9-6) at Sandown 1m 2f hcp (4) gd in Jun.
Cliffs Of Dover 8-1 (9-1) Behind, ridden and headway towards far side over 2f out, kept on same pace from over 1f out, no impression, 5th of 12, 4 1/4l behind Muaither (9-2) at Newbury 1m 4f hcp (5) gf in Jun.
