hampered start, soon outpaced
close up, stayed far side from over 3f out, ridden and every chance from over 1f out, no extra close home
keen, in touch, ridden half way, soon weakened
soon towards rear, ridden over 1f out, never dangerous
slow into stride, pulled hard, headway to chase leaders after 1f, ridden and weakened 2f out
close up, led over 3f out, ridden and ran on final furlong
towards rear, ridden half way, never dangerous
held up, ridden 2f out, ran on inside final furlong, not reach leaders
In a competitive opener, Threat gets our vote ahead of Flying Faisal, Aintneccessarilyso and Harbour House. Looking at the field. Flying Faisal bounced back to winning ways in a course and distance seller last time and looks set to go well again, even though he is not one in which you would place complete faith. The same stable also saddle Threat, whose last two runs - on Lingfield's all-weather and Chepstow's good to soft, have been very encouraging. Aintneccessarilyso was two-and-a-half lengths ahead of Threat at Chepstow but is now six pounds worse off, excluding riders' allowances, so it should be close between them again. Avit has been showing improved form on the all-weather and it will be interesting to see how he fares back on Turf. Crafty Politician is 12 pounds better off with Flying Faisal for the four-and-a-half lengths he finished behind him here last time (excluding riders' allowances) over a slightly-longer trip, so could go well, and Frenchmans Lodge - another Milton Bradley runner - has a chance based on his best three-year-old form but has been desperately disappointing since, although he races in first-time blinkers today. Finally, Harbour House can be given a chance based on his best Turf efforts. It's not an easy race to weigh up but, overall, we are happy enough to side with Threat.