tracked leaders, chased winner over 4f out, driven over 1f out, soon no impression
started slowly, always behind, tailed off
held up, no chance and struggling from halfway, tailed off
chased winner to over 4f out, hard ridden over 2f out, soon no impression and beaten
made all at good pace, ridden over 1f out, stayed on strongly
soon well off pace and struggling from halfway, tailed off
Just the six runners to choose from here and it will be a surprise if the finish is not fought out between Once, Sparky's Mate and Bendarshaan, with the first-mentioned of that trio looking the most likely winner. Michael Bell's colt showed improved form for the step up to this trip when chasing home Harcout in a handicap at Newmarket's Craven meeting recently. A 33/1 chance that day, the son of Hector Protector is likely to be considerably shorter today and, with further improvement to come, he gets the vote. Sparky's Mate meets the selection on 1lb better terms than if this was a handicap but the Mark Tompkins-trained gelding has less scope than Once. Bendarshaan ran creditably on his debut when finding just Leave To Appeal too good in the Wood Ditton Stakes. That is normally a reliable guide to finding future winners but this year's contest did not look a vintage renewal and the safest option may be to stick with the Bell horse. The others make limited appeal in this company.
