behind, stayed on under pressure from over 1f out, never reached leaders
raced wide in mid-division, driven 4f out, no impression final 2f
slowly into stride, towards rear and no chance when stumbled badly well over 1f out
held up and behind, steady headway from 3f out, led approaching final furlong, driven clear
led for 4f, chased clear leader after until weakened rapidly over 2f out
close up in chasing group, pushed along 5f out, effort to chase leaders 2f out, kept on to take 2nd well inside final furlong but no impression
behind, no chance when slightly hampered over 1f out
keen, held up in rear, steady headway from 3f out, chased leaders over 1f out, edged right and stayed on same pace inside final furlong
in touch in chasing group, pushed along 5f out, kept on under pressure final 2f
keen and prominent in chasing group, ridden 3f out, soon weakened
prominent in chasing group, effort 2f out, hung left and weakened over 1f out
behind, headway on inside from 5f out, weakened over 1f out
pulled hard, led after 4f and soon clear, headed 3f out, weakened rapidly
tracked leaders, led 3f out, driven 2 lengths clear 2f out, headed approaching final furlong, faded
Confidence can never be sky-high in races of this nature so only a tentative vote is given to Royale Pearl, who should cope with the drop in trip as well as the challenges presented by Stagecoach Ruby and the lightly raced Golden Queen. It is interesting that the latter makes her return at this level after qualifying for a mark of just 40 from her three outings last year. She was initially an expensive purchase by the standards of this sort of race before changing hands for only 7,000gns as a three-year-old. Her connections will be very keen to get a win into her and they could hardly have found a weaker race to start off her new campaign. She is one to monitor carefully. Stagecoach Ruby, who won at this level for Garry Moore last September, is worth a try at this trip and should be capable of getting competitive. However, she is not the most consistent and has to prove her stamina this afternoon. So we stick with Royale Pearl, who is a previous course and distance winner that arrives here with a marginally more solid profile and thus gets the nomination today.
