held up in touch, headway over 5f out, led 3f out, ridden out
led, ridden and headed over 3f out, weakened approaching final furlong
in touch, pushed along 4f out, no impression final 2f
held up, headway 4f out, effort over 3f out, chased winner over 2f out, kept on one pace final furlong
tracked leader, pushed along 4f out, soon ridden, kept on one pace final 2f
tracked leaders, pushed along and lost place 4f out, ridden and weakened over 3f out
A number of these come into the race in good form, and Dr Sharp is just fancied to land the hat trick, at the expense of No Refuge and Ototm. Tom Tate's gelding is in good form under forcing tactics, winning his last two starts including at this track three weeks ago. He should have no trouble with trip or ground and although unlikely to get an easy lead today with confirmed trailblazer Special Branch amongst his rivals, he is still taken to land the hat trick. Ototm left his moderate previous form behind when battling to victory over this trip at Brighton last month, and the runner-up has franked the form by winning since. He is open to more improvement at this trip, Kieren Fallon has been booked and the Alec Stewart stable which rarely has runners here, so he has to be a serious danger. No Refuge is a typically progressive sort from the Sir Mark Prescott stable and hacked up over this trip in a soft race on the Polytrack the other day. He has to shoulder a penalty and is now 10lbs higher than when finishing only third on his last turf start, and that may just be enough to stop him, so we take Dr Sharp to land what promises to be a fascinating opening race.
