held up in touch, soon tracked leaders in 3rd, ridden and one pace inside final furlong
tracked leaders, ridden to chase winner over 1f out, soon hung left, kept on and hung right inside final furlong, kept on well, always held
held up in rear, ridden over 1f out, weakened inside final furlong
tracked leader, led over 2f out, ridden over 1f out, kept on well, edged right towards finish
led, headed over 2f out, weakened over 1f out
held up towards rear but in touch, ridden 1f out, kept on same pace
King Olav is the only one of these with a recent outing but he'll still need to dig deep if he's to beat DIRAR. Gordon Elliott's gelding showed progressive form last year culminating in a respectable fifth in the Doncaster Cup in September. Today's shorter trip is no problem, but more importantly, he goes well fresh. Fox Hunt also showed good improvement in four starts last season and has scope for improvement on his reappearance, while Into Wain is a decent handicapper at his best. Sahrati and Hawaana look up against it on today's terms.
Dirar (IRE) 8-1 (9-1) Prominent, ridden over 1f out, no extra inside final furlong, 5th of 10, 5l behind Samuel (9-1) at Doncaster 2m 2f Grp 2 (1) gd in Sep.
Fox Hunt (IRE) 4-1 (8-10) Held up towards rear, headway over 3f out, chased winner entering final furlong, ran on, just failed, 2nd of 12, shd behind Opera Gal (8-4) at Chester 1m 2f 3yo hcp 0-105 (2) gs in Sep.
Hawaana (IRE) 13-2 (9-5) Held up towards rear, good headway on inside 3f out, switched right just inside final 2f, quickened to lead inside final furlong, soon clear, won at Brighton 1m 4f hcp 0-80 (4) gf in Aug beating Resplendent Light (9-10) by 3 1/2l, 9 ran.
King Olav (UAE) 13-2 (9-7) Tracked leaders, pushed along over 4f out, outpaced and lost place 3f out,driven and kept on final furlong, 5th of 10, 9l behind Scamperdale (9-1) at Lingfield 1m 4f hcp 0-95 (3) pol.
Sahrati Evensfav (9-3) Tracked leader, ridden and every chance 2f out, led over 1f out, headed 1f out, stayed on, 3rd of 7, 1 1/4l behind Hurakan (9-3) at Kempton 1m 3f clm stks (6) pol in Feb '10.
Into Wain (USA) 16-1 (9-7) Soon led, switched left to race in centre of track well over 1f out, soon headed, stayed on well, 2nd of 6, 1l behind Home Advantage (8-12) at Kempton 1m 4f 3yo hcp 0-95 (3) pol in Sep.