held up, headway 3f out, led over 1f out, ridden out
in touch, pushed along and slightly out paced over 3f out, ridden and one paced final 2f
tracked leaders, ridden over 3f out, challenged over 1f out, kept on same pace final furlong
led, ridden over 2f out, headed over 1f out, one paced final furlong
pulled hard, headway to track leader after 3f, effort over 2f out, weakened inside final furlong
Although only a small field, this is still a competitive race, and tactics could play a part; there is every reason to believe that Sun Bird and Gralmano could take each other on up front, and with that in mind Timing is just fancied to pick them off in the closing stages. Sun Bird, a winner of the Old Newton Cup at Haydock last year, bounced back to form at Musselburgh last time when beating Kristensen by half a length, with Gralmano a very disappointing last of the eight runners. Dick Allan's gelding is still racing off a mark a pound lower than his Haydock success, so it would be no great shock to see him follow up, but Gralmano had earlier beaten Kristensen when making all at Thirsk and is clearly capable of much better than he showed at Thirsk, so there may not be much between them this time. However, it is just possible that this race could be set up for Tim Easterby's Timing. A winner four times over various trips last year, she was slightly unlucky when fourth to stablemate Bourgeouis on her reappearance at Haydock. Although she has failed to progress from that in two subsequent runs, she didn't run too badly when fourth to Bay Of Islands last time and appears still to be on a fair mark, so she gets the vote here in a tricky race to call.
