held up, headway halfway to track leaders, ridden over 4f out, weakened approaching final furlong
tracked leaders, ridden and headway to chase leaders 4f out, kept on final furlong, just held
led, ridden 4f out, headed briefly over 2f out, kept on strongly, headed line
tracked leaders, went 2nd 6f out, led briefly over 2f out, kept on, held just near finish
steadied start and held up rear, headway 3f out, kept on gamely to lead last strides
soon prominent, ridden and weakened over 2f out
towards rear, headway 7f out to go in touch, ridden and edged left 2f out, every chance over 1f out, weakened final furlong
Sovietta is given the vote ahead of Murietta and Lady Taverner. Proven on the surface, Sovietta should have few worries about the ills of inclement weather and while the recent form has been patchy to say the least, with the obvious doubts about the others - this is a race that will not take a lot of winning. Lady Taverner has been in fair form on the all-weather. It would be no surprise to see her go well here but backers are reminded that her previous turf runs have been on a significantly faster surface. Murietta produced a career best when fifth in a recent event at Brighton. That was much better than the bare finishing position suggests as she was racing from significantly out of the handicap on that occasion. The market will offer most clues as to whether connections believe that she will handle the surface. Rafelite didn't show too much on racecourse reappearance but improvement could be likely. Cotton Easter has no problems with the surface has looked very slow on all racecourse evidence. Not a strong contest but course form is worth plenty at Bath and Sovietta is preferred.
Royal Auditon 25-1 (9-10) Always in rear, last of 12, 36l behind Whoopsie (8-12) at Musselburgh 1m 6f hcp 0-65 (6) gf.
Lady Taverner 8-1 (9-0) Mid-division, not much room 4f out, ridden and headway 3f out, every chance approaching final furlong, no extra, 3rd of 11, 2l behind Explosive Fox (9-1) at W'hampton 1m 4f hcap (6) pol in Apr.
Rafelite 20-1 (9-1) Tracked leaders, ridden and effort 3f out, weakened 2 out, 9th of 14, 11l behind Turner's Touch (9-1) at Kempton 1m 4f hcp 0-65 (6) pol in Apr.
Sovietta (IRE) 15-2 (8-7) Always behind, 10th of 15, 19l behind Lewis Island (9-1) at Bath 1m 4f hcap (6) gs.
Cotton Easter 50-1 (9-0) Started slowly, soon prominent, ridden 5f out, soon lost place, weakened over 3f, 11th of 14, 20l behind Brave Dane (9-8) at Kempton 1m 2f banded stk (7) pol.
Murrieta 33-1 (8-3) Tracked leaders, led in centre 3f out, headed 2f out, soon hung left and weakened over 1f out, 5th of 9, 7l behind Gambling Spirit (8-9) at Brighton 1m 4f hcp 0-70 (5) frm.
Just Beware 66-1 (8-9) Raced wide mid-division, headway to chase leaders over 4f out, ridden 3f out, weakened over 1f out, 11th of 13, 5l behind Tharua (8-9) at Lingfield 1m 4f banded stk (7) pol in Dec.
