dwelt, towards rear, never dangerous
in touch, pushed along to lead over 2f, stayed on under pressure final furlong, headed close home
held up, effort over 2f, hampered over 1f and did not recover
mid-division, pushed along over 3f, outpaced final 2f
in touch, pushed along over 2f, ridden and one-paced final furlong
mid-division, effort over 2f, hampered over 1f, not recovered
slowly into stride, held up towards rear, ridden and stayed on final 2f, never near to challenge
held up towards rear, headway over 2f, stayed on final furlong
mid-division, progress over 2f, soon ridden and onepaced
mid-division, headway over 2f, not much room over 1f, stayed on final furlong
prominent, ridden over 1f, soon weakened
prominent, ridden 2f out, stayed on until weakened inside final furlong
towards rear, pushed along over 3f, some late headway, never near to challenge
led, ridden and headed over 2f, onepaced until weakened final furlong
held up, headway over 2f, ridden over 1f, ran on final furlong to lead close home
From a good draw, Raphael gets a tentative vote to follow up her recent Redcar win in this competitive handicap, with Pas De Surprise and Plutocrat the best alternatives. Tim Easterby's filly was scoring for the fourth time in her career when prevailing in a tight finish in a classified stakes at Redcar last time, but has not been penalised by the handicapper for that, and from a good draw in stall 13 is taken to follow up under Kevin Darley. Pas De Surprise put up a much-improved display when second in a claimer last time and is another who should go well from a perfect draw in 16, while Plutocrat is another who produced an improved display last time out, when third at Catterick, and is also capable of fighting for prize money. Ynysmon has been running well of late and would normally come into the reckoning here, but his draw on the wide outside is enough to put us off.