tracked leaders, outpaced 2f out, kept on again final furlong, never dangerous
tracked leaders, hard ridden and ran on same pace final furlong
led, ridden 2f out, headed approaching final furlong, weakened quickly
held up, headway to press leaders 2f out, kept on same pace final furlong
pulled hard, held up in rear, brief effort on inside over 2f out, soon outpaced
held up, pushed along and outpaced 3f out, kept on again final furlong, not trouble leaders
slowly into stride, soon recovered to track leaders, quickened to lead approaching final furlong, ridden out
held up, driven and outpaced 3f out, kept on again final furlong, never dangerous
held up in rear, badly hampered 8f out, headway and not clear run over 2f out, switched left to outside approaching final furlong, rider lost reins, hung left, ran on final
Some interesting three-year-olds line up for the day's showcase handicap, but the lightly-raced pair of Vengeance and Almizan make most appeal, with the former just preferred, while Once is another to come into the reckoning. Despite running very green on his debut, Vengeance finished a good second at Windsor last month, and Amanda Perrett's colt duly got off the mark on his only subsequent start, bolting up by six lengths at Folkestone earlier this month. He has bags of scope, and a mark of 75 for his handicap debut looks extremely generous. Almizan has a similar profile, having showed promise on his debut at Newbury before winning in good style at Thirsk, and Mick Channon's colt looks the biggest danger to the selection. Once was a disappointing favourite in maiden company at Brighton last time, but Michael Bell's colt had earlier finished second in a good handicap at Newmarket, and has to be considered off just two pounds higher in the weights here. Lesath got off the mark on the sand at Southwell earlier this season, after three promising runs on turf, but James Fanshawe's charge seems to have been quite harshly treated by the handicapper and would have to improve significantly to win this.
