slowly into stride, in touch, headway over 5f out, every chance over 2f out, weakened over 1f
slowly into stride, outpaced in rear 4f out, stayed on over 1f out, chase clear leaders final furlong
held up mid-division, headway 3f out, switched right and led 2f out, ridden out
tracked leader, ridden 3f out, soon weakened
slowly into stride, in rear, headway to chase leaders over 2f out, chased winner over 1f out, no impression
tracked leaders until lost place 5f out, tailed off final 2f
held up mid-division, headway and ridden over 2f out, weakened over 1f
tracked leaders, ridden to chase leaders 4f out, weakened 2f out
held up towards rear, headway 6f out, weakened 4f out
led, headed 2f out, soon weakened
The four to concentrate on here look to be The Duke Of Dixie, Battledress, Master Cobbler and Haatmey, and we will side with The Duke Of Dixie. Frankie Dettori partners the selection, who steps up from seven furlongs to 10 here, and should now come into his own. Third in maiden company to Blues And Royals at York in June, and then again on soft ground over 7f at Newmarket last time, he will appreciate both the step up in trip and the better ground here. His form so far has been at a decent level, but we expect a fair bit of improvement now and he should be good enough to win. Battledress is perhaps the main danger. Third over a mile here last time out, he too will be much better for the extra quarter-of-a-mile and although he finished a few lengths adrift of the selection on his Newmarket debut, he will be much closer this time. Of the remainder, Haatmey is a likeable colt who is progressing with each run and if he continues to do so from his recent Redcar second then there will be those who are prepared to support him this time, while Master Cobbler makes the biggest transition of all here, from 6f up to 10f, but being by Alhaarth he should make that seamless and provided the ground stays dry he is entitled to be in the shake-up. However, preference here is for The Duke Of Dixie, who can give Dettori another success from the plate.
