never going well and always towards rear
slowly into stride, soon in touch, ridden and outpaced over 2f out, weakened final furlong
chased leaders, driven halfway, weakened and well behind final 2f
chased leaders, hard ridden over 2f out, soon outpaced and beaten, lost pace inside final furlong
raced against farside rail, made all, in command final furlong driven out
soon chased winner, hard ridden 2f out, no impression final furlong but kept on well for second
slowly into stride, well in rear, headway 2f out, stayed on to take third inside final furlong, no impression
A low-grade handicap and the vote goes to Captain Darling while Mandarin Spirit rates a big danger and others to consider include Heidelburg and Killala. Robert Cowell's charge has shown a consistent level of form in handicaps over this trip and put up a particularly fine effort when scoring a comfortable victory at Lingfield three starts ago. The Pennekamp gelding may have found a mile stretching his stamina to breaking point when a beaten favourite on his next start at Salisbury but shaped better back over this trip when fourth in a competitive heat at Newmarket last time. The selection remains lightly raced and open to further improvement so appears fairly treated and can take advantage of a slight drop in grade under a useful apprentice. Mandarin Spirit has been well placed to record back-to-back handicap wins at Catterick and Wolverhampton in July but has risen accordingly and shaped as though he would appreciate further on his latest start at Yarmouth. Heidelburg was a useful juvenile who has taken a while to come to hand this term but ran promisingly last time and can't be discounted while Killala isn't the most consistent but has place claims if able to reproduce the form of her Catterick success in July.
