mid-division, headway over 2f out, ridden over 1f out, stayed on final furlong
close up and soon led, ridden and headed over 1f out, no extra final furlong
held up towards rear, pushed along halfway, effort over 1f out, never near to challenge
held up behind leaders, pushed along over 2f out, ridden to lead over 1f out, kept on gamely final furlong
prominent, headway to challenge over 1f out, ridden and stayed on final furlong
led, soon headed, remained in touch, ridden over 1f out, weakened inside final furlong
dwelt, soon mid-division, effort over 3f out, no impression
A cracking start to the day with a race that can go to Queen Of Poland, who is expected to take this step up to a mile in her stride and confirm her superiority over Maids Causeway, who will do well to carry her 3lb Group-three penalty to victory in this company. Playful Act and Road Rage are others that come into the reckoning as improving types, with the latter just preferred of the two after her game success at Newmarket in July. The fact that she has been off the track since then is not an issue as a number of the field have been away from the action for at least a month; probably to be kept fresh with this race in mind. Red Peony and Favourita have seen action in the last fortnight though, and neither did themselves justice on ground that was softer than ideal. These conditions may help but both have improvement to find. Cassydora is another that showed progression when we last saw her race - an effort that her have sharpened her up for the task in hand this afternoon. Nevertheless, this is a much tougher ask and others make more appeal. Maids Causeway has met all her targets and gained a meritorious success in the Sweet Solaria Stakes last month. It is worth bearing in mind that she was trained for that race and comes here as part of her learning process. However, she was out-fought by the selection in Listed race at Sandown and, with the weights against her, she is up against it here. Therefore, Queen Of Poland makes slightly more appeal on these terms and, with the extra furlong sure to suit, she can utilise her fighting spirit to come out on top here.
