held up, headway over 5f out, soon ridden, weakened over 3f out
tracked winner, driven to challenge over 2f out, soon every chance, kept on same pace inside final furlong
held up, headway over 5f out, chased leaders over 2f out, soon one pace
held up, pushed along over 7f out, ridden and effort over 3f out, soon no impression
tracked leaders, ridden over 3f out, soon weakened
held up, never dangerous
made all, strongly challenged from over 2f out, stayed on well inside final furlong
Three for the short list here are Carte Diamond, Lost Soldier Three and Lochbuie, and we take Lost Soldier Three to complete a hat-trick. Thought of as a potential Cup horse by trainer Luca Cumani, he will stay a fair bit further than this 1m 6f and is already proven over a furlong more. The gelding handles any ground, travels well and simply keeps galloping, and a reproduction of his efforts to land the Melrose at York or the Mallard at Doncaster should be good enough to see him prevail. The other hat-trick seeker in the line-up is Carte Diamond. Unbeaten in his two starts, Mark Johnston's charge will not be any easy beat. He stayed on well to land races at Redcar and then York, and his handler believes that he will be better for the step up in trip, so we are about to find out. He is unexposed and can give the selection most to do. Of the remainder, Lochbuie handles trip and ground well, but he has been found out in handicaps off a 1lb lower mark lately and he will struggle to win at these weights. Nevertheless he can make the frame, but our idea of the winner is Lost Soldier Three.
