Walkover
None of this trio have raced in testing ground before so we'll have to rely on the form book and that tells us STARBOARD should come out best. He had a couple of subsequent winners behind when landing his maiden at Redcar in November and John Gosden should have a good line on the form as one of his representatives finished behind Rewarded when the latter scored at Yarmouth in October. Poole Harbour has yet to win but as heavy ground can be a great leveller, he can't be dismissed out of hand if taking to the surface.
Rewarded 3-1fav (9-3) Close up, chased leader over 1f out, led inside final furlong, ran on, won at Yarmouth 7f 2yo mdn (5) gs in Oct beating Flaxen Flare (9-3) by 1 1/4l, 15 ran.
Starboard 1-2fav (9-3) Dwelt, mid-division, headway to go 2nd ovewr 2f out, led over 1f out, soon quickened clear, eased towards finish, won at Redcar 7f 2yo mdn (5) gd in Nov beating Galician (8-12) by 5l, 12 ran.
Poole Harbour (IRE) 11-2 (9-0) Mid-division, headway 2f out, kept on one pace final furlong, 5th of 13, 4 1/2l behind Cogito (9-0) at Newmarket 7f 3yo mdn (4) gd.
