held up rear, ridden 3f out, never troubled leaders
tracked leader, ridden over 2f out, over 2 lengths down 1f out, stayed on strongly under pressure inside final furlong, led close home
held up 4th, ridden over 3f out, effort approaching 2f out, onepaced final furlong
held up 3rd, ridden and effort 2f out, no extra over 1f out
soon led, set steady pace, quickened over 2 lengths clear 1f out, hard ridden final furlong, headed close home
pulled hard in rear, ridden 3f out, no impression on leaders
It would come as no surprise to see Sir Michael Stoute's Princely Venture step up on his three-year-old form on his first outing of the season and although Harlestone Grey is a useful performer, this trip is on the short side for him, so the vote goes to Bourgainville. Andrew Balding's five-year-old tackles a mile-and-a-half for the first time but, judged by his last time out second in the Gordon Stakes at Sandown, he looks ready for it and gets the vote under Kevin Darley. The stayer, Harlestone Grey, will try and expose any stamina limitations in the selection but is likely to find at least one too good again, while Princely Venture needs to improve on all know form to figure in this company. Mesmeric seems to have lost his way over the last 12 months and would ideally want a softer surface than he will get here and a bigger threat may come from Martin Pipe's Iberus, who is probably better than his last two runs suggest.
