Salisbury Plain and Fistral look to be out of their depth in this grade and with Mafaheem yet to prove his effectiveness on ground this soft preference is for Sake. Admittedly Nigel Tinkler's gelding has yet to win on ground this soft and did disappoint under testing conditions at Thirsk on Tuesday but the five-year-old has run well on a similar surface before and he may be worth chancing at the forecast odds. Ochre Bay is capable but has run below expectations on each start on a soft surface, while Optical Illusion is not bred to handle ground this soft and is probably best watched on his first start on ground this testing. With doubts over most of the runners in the field on the basis of the underfoot conditions, Sake looks worth chancing.
Mafaheem 11-8fav (9-8) won at Windsor 6f sll (5) hvy beating Kassuta (8-3) by a nk, 11 ran.
Ochre Bay 33-1 (8-9) Held up mid-division, ridden and came stand side over 2f out, not trouble leaders, 6th of 8, 15l behind The Osteopath (8-10) at Warwick 7f hcp 0-80 (4) sft in Jun.
Sake (IRE) 9-1 (9-8) Chased leaders, ridden along halfway, weakened final furlong, 10th of 12, 8l behind Skyelady (9-5) at Thirsk 7f hcp 0-75 (5) sft.
Salisbury Plain 16-1 (8-11) Took keen hold, held up in 5th, ridden and one pace final 2f, 4th of 6, 6l behind Azreme (10-0) at Windsor 1m hcp 0-70 (5) hvy.
Fistral 16-1 (8-7) Towards rear, ridden over 3f out, kept on final furlong, 4th of 12, 9l behind Surprise Pension (8-8) at Hamilton 1m 3yo hcp (6) gd in Jun.
Optical Illusion (USA) 8-1 (9-3) Steadied start, held up, never on terms, 11th of 16, 10l behind Sweet Gale (9-6) at Lingfield 7f 3yo hcp (5) gf in Jun.
