slowly away, in rear, headway 9f out to chase leader, ridden and weakened over 2f out
chased leader, ridden over 2f out, led approaching final furlong, kept on well
chased leaders until lost place over 5f out
slowly into stride, towards rear, effort over 3f out, no impression final 2f
led, ridden over 2f out, headed approaching final furlong, one pace
An ordinary claimer where Al Azhar has an obvious chance of getting off the mark for the season - with Life Is Beautiful and Piste Bleu expected to pose him the most problems out of the rest. The Michael Dods-trained selection started the campaign on a very fair mark after struggling with the assessor on the back of a couple of wins in 2002. The ten-year-old had a restricted campaign last season; making just three visits to the races throughout the whole campaign. He was in need of the run when he made his reappearance 10 days ago but still acquitted himself before tiring in the closing stages. The lack of early pace was also his undoing on that occasion as the leaders were allowed to slip their field and he simply was done for race-fitness when they came into the final half-mile. That run will have done him the power of good though and, considering that he was rated 99 when he was at his best for Ian Balding, he looks thrown in here off just 68 today. Life Is Beautiful won a Banded race here on good to firm going at the end of last month and, like Piste Bleu, is capable of getting competitive in a low-grade contest such as this. However, he both lack consistency and will struggle to get past Al Azhar, who has been presented with a cracking chance at the weights, if he is on song today.
