pulled hard, chased leaders, hard ridden 2f out, soon weakened
held up and behind, ridden and headway under pressure over 2f out, soon outpaced
tracked leaders, chased leader from well over 1f out, every chance 1f out, kept on well but not pace of winner inside final furlong
behind, driven along and struggling over 2f out
tracked leader, led just inside final 2f, soon ridden, headed and one-paced inside final furlong
held up, lost place and struggling halfway, stayed on again but hung right from over 2f out, no danger
tracked leading pair, ridden along over 2f out, soon weakened
mid-division, effort on outside 2f out, driven and stayed on under pressure final furlong, took 3rd near finish
held up in mid-division, headway and switched left to outside 2f out, led inside final furlong, quicken clear, easily
led, ridden and headed just inside final 2f, weakened final furlong
A competitive renewal of this Group 1 in which only Air Adair, Casual Look and Oblige can be safely discounted. Hold To Ransom appreciated the step up in trip when winning her maiden at Newmarket. Out of a mare that won over a mile, she is from the same family as the high-class middle-distance performer Most Welcome and she should do better still over this trip. The form of her maiden win has been given a boost by the subsequent victories of the runner-up and fourth and she should run well at a big price, while Huja is also open to improvement at this trip, but she looks the stables second string to Rainbow Queen, who showed a smart turn of foot to win her maiden at Warwick. That was only a modest contest and this is a huge step up in class for the daughter of 1997, 1000 Guineas third Dazzle. She is from a yard that probably houses the top two-year-old filly seen out so far this year in Russian Rhythm and this will give the Stoute team a line to Soviet Song. The latter was hugely impressive in beating subsequent May Hill winner Summitvillle on soft ground at Newmarket last month, but she is at least as effective on a faster surface as she showed when beating Airwave at Kempton on her debut. The latter has done that form no harm when landing a Listed event at the big Ayr meeting and Soviet Song is a confident choice to be pressing Russian Rhythm for Guineas favouritism after taking this. Summitville is certainly progressing and will have no problems with either the ground or trip, but few who saw her trounced by Soviet Song at Newmarket, can believe she will reverse the form with James Fanshaw's filly, although if she allowed a free role up front, she could well take a bit of pegging back in Ascot's short straight. She in turn should confirm the form with Approach on May Hill running and more of a threat could be the Irish raider Reach For The Moon, who is a half-sister to the top-class Agnes Digital. She was impressive when winning her maiden at Cork and that form has received a boost by the subsequent wins of the runner-up and the fourth. She is open to any amount of improvement and should run well without being quite good enough to win.
