pulled hard, held up, headway and hampered over 2f out, soon lost place, rallied over 1f out, ran on inside final furlong
chased leaders, hampered and edged right over 2f out, stayed on inside final furlong
in touch, ridden over 2f out, soon weakened
held up, headway over 2f out, soon ridden, stayed on same pace final furlong
soon pushed along in rear
close up, ridden halfway, weakened well over 1f out
made virtually all, ridden and ran on
towards rear, never nearer
hung right throughout, close up, ridden and weakened over 1f out
towards rear, never nearer
close up, ridden and edged right over 2f out, weakened over 1f out
dwelt, ran green in mid-division, edged left 3f out, ridden and weakened 2f out
raced mid-division, hampered 3f out, ridden and soon weakened
A typical Leicester maiden with many top trainers with entries. Takhleed is one of the more exposed runners but his form does look rock solid and he gets the verdict ahead of Donya One and Anchor Date. Marcus Tregoning's colt showed plenty of promise in two juvenile events before finishing a close up fourth to the decent Paper Talk at Doncaster on his return. He wasn't disgraced last time either when just over four lengths behind Great Plains at Goodwood. This looks a slightly easier affair and he is taken to lose his maiden tag. Anchor Date is trained by Barry Hills, who is also responsible for Paper Talk. So in effect he should know how he stands with the selection, although you would think anchor Date needs to improve on what he has shown so far. Donya One wasn't given a hard time on her debut at Chepstow recently and should be capable of plenty of improvement. Allegretto and Aviation both showed promise last term and are two others to note, but Takhleed appears to have the strongest form here and gets the nod.
Allegretto (FR) 20-1 (9-0) Raced centre, switched left halfway, ridden and headway over 2f out, kept on final furlong, no chance with winner, 2nd of 14, 6l behind Starchy (8-9) at Nottingham 6f 2yo mdn (D3) hvy in Nov.
Anchor Date 10-11fav (9-0) Steadied start and switched left to far side group, held up towards rear, ridden over 2f out, no impression, soon weakened, 7th of 12, 10l behind On The Waterline (8-9) at Windsor 6f 2yo mdn (D3) sft in Oct.
Aviation 13-2 (9-0) Towards rear, ridden approaching 3f out, weakened over 1f out, 9th of 13, 9l behind Nota Bene (8-11) at Windsor 6f 2yo mdn (D3) gd in Oct.
Fardi (IRE) 5-2fav (9-0) Mid-division, stands' side, ridden over 1f out, kept on but never able to challenge, 8th of 18, 12l behind Foreign Edition (9-0) at Doncaster 6f 3yo mdn (4) gd in Apr.
John Robie (USA) 12-1 (8-2) Dwelt and behind, ridden to chase leaders over 2f out, no extra final furlong, 4th of 5, 6l behind Namir (8-9) at Hamilton 5f 3yo stk (3) gs.
Takhleed (USA) 11-4fav (9-0) Led, going easily 2f out, headed and weakened inside final furlong, 4th of 11, 4 1/2l behind Great Plains (9-0) at Goodwood 7f 3yo mdn (5) gd in Apr.
Donya One 14-1 (8-9) Mid-division, ridden 2f out, never nearer, 5th of 10, 6l behind Exmoor (8-7) at Chepstow 6f 3yo mdn (5) gs.
Hashima (USA) 4-1 (8-11) Raced wide, tracked leaders, ridden over 2f out, weakened final furlong, 4th of 14, 6l behind Royal Jelly (8-11) at Lingfield 7f 2yo mdn fll (D3) pol in Oct.
