tracked leaders, pushed along 5f out, ridden to challenge over 2f out, stayed on under pressure to lead inside final furlong, all out
held up in touch, headway to lead over 7f out, ridden over 1f out, headed inside final furlong, kept on until no extra towards finish
led to over 7f out, driven and outpaced 4f out, ridden and kept on final 2f, no impression
with leader, driven over 4f out, soon ridden, weakened 1f out
held up in rear, switched outside and effort over 3f out, ridden 2f out, soon weakened
Key Time is sent out quickly again by Sir Mark Prescott and looks booked for the hat-trick here, with Lodgician and Mister Arjay the likely main dangers. The selection has been placed to win twice over two miles just lately and attempts to defy a 6lb penalty for staying on strongly to score at Beverley on Tuesday. He is due to go up a conservative 2lb from tomorrow, but we think he is capable of shouldering the penalty and going in again here. Lodgician comes from another in form yard, that of John Quinn. There was nothing wrong with his c&d success last time out, but he faced nothing like the strength in opposition of Key Time and having to shoulder 7lb more against him will make this a stiffish test. Mister Arjay was well beaten by the selection at Beverely and despite better terms it would be a bit of a surprise if he were good enough to beat Key Time, who gets the nod.
Key Time (IRE) 2-5fav (9-12) Tracked leader, led over 3f out, clear over 1f out, pushed out final furlong, won at Beverley 2m hcp 0-85 (4) gf beating Mister Arjay (8-12) by 3 1/2l, 4 ran.
Lodgician (IRE) 5-1 (9-1) Tracked leaders, led over 2f out, ran on strongly, won at Carlisle 2m 1f mdn hcp (6) gf beating Arch Folly (9-7) by 3 1/2l, 10 ran.
Mister Arjay (USA) 9-2 (8-12) Led, headed after 1f and remained in touch, driven and headway over 1f out, chased winner final furlong, 2nd of 4, 3 1/2l behind Key Time (9-12) at Beverley 2m hcp 0-85 (4) gf.
Rule For Ever 14-1 (8-8) Led, ridden 3f out, headed approaching final furlong, weakened towards finish, 5th of 9, 8l behind Mister Arjay (8-6) at Newcastle 2m hcp 0-80 (4) gf in Jun.
Mulligan's Pride (IRE) 8-1 (9-3) Mid-division, pushed along over 5f out, ridden over 2f out, never reached challenging position, 6th of 10, 6l behind Rose Bien (9-2) at Beverley 2m hcp 0-70 (5) frm.