in touch, lost place 11th, no danger after
tracked leaders, effort after 3 out, one pace after next
towards rear, reminders 11th, soon weakened, tailed off and pulled up before 2 out
towards rear, headway halfway, in touch, effort approaching 2 out, no extra approaching last
not fluent, in rear, weakened 11th, tailed off when pulled up before last
made most to 7th, remained close up, stayed on to lead again approaching last, ridden out
with leader, led 7th, headed approaching last, kept on same pace
held up in rear, headway 11th, weakened approaching 3 out
chased leaders, lost place 9th, no danger after
Nonrunner
Some in-form yards are set to be represented here and this could well provide an active betting market; with Miss Royello just edging our vote over Alfy Rich and Black Smoke. That is not to totally dismiss Native Legend, who looks to be the pick of Ferdy Murphy's pair on jockey bookings. However, he does need to have improved a fair bit after a modest effort at Kelso last time. It can be argued that he was hampered when starting to wind up a challenge on that occasion so a watching brief is advised where he is concerned in the betting. Black Smoke is another that, on the face of it, needs to find a lot more than he has shown of late and the fact that he does not travel far for this suggests that this is all part of his learning process and others make more appeal. None more so than Miss Royello, who was unfortunate enough to come up against a most progressive rival when she last raced here. The daughter of Royal Fountain has the most to fear from Alfy Rich, who has gone well here in the past. However, Miss Royello has bags of scope for improvement and is fancied to brush aside her penalty today.
