chased leaders, went 2nd halfway until no extra inside final furlong
tracked leaders, weakened halfway
led and set good pace, ridden entering final furlong, soon headed, kept on
pushed along in rear, ridden and headway final furlong, ran on strongly to lead inside final furlong
slowly into stride pushed along in rear, kept on from over 1f out no impression
tracked leaders outpaced halfway
tracked leader, outpaced well over 1f out
METROLAND has a sound chance at this level and is preferred to Gap Princess and Cayman Fox. The last named won a similar race over course and distance a fortnight ago, so her confidence will be on a high. However, that was her first win from 16 career starts, so she has to be a candidate to revert to type this afternoon. By contrast, Gap Princess has won or made the frame in over fifty percent of her starts on turf, so can be relied upon to give her all. Richard Fahey's mare was narrowly denied in a Ripon claimer 12 days ago and will be a big threat if she posts a similar effort today. However, this is the right grade for Metroland and, considering David Nicholls' penchant for landing the spoils in races of this nature; it'll be very dangerous to underestimate this Royal Applause filly - especially as she would be giving lumps of weight away to the rest of this were a handicap.
Silvanus (IRE) 11-2 (9-6) Tracked leader and keen, ridden over 1f out, no extra well inside final furlong, 4th of 5, 1 3/4l behind Rothesay Dancer (9-7) at Hamilton 5f hcp 0-80 (4) gf.
Gelert (IRE) 8-1 (8-7) Towards rear, never dangerous, 9th of 12, 9l behind Bedloe's Island (9-8) at Redcar 5f (5) gf.
Cayman Fox 6-1 (8-7) Made all and set good pace, ridden and challenged over 1f out, stayed on well, won at Hamilton 5f clm stks (6) gd beating Creative (9-0) by 2 1/4l, 9 ran.
Gap Princess (IRE) 4-1 (8-7) Prominent far side, led 2f out, hard driven and headed near line, 2nd of 12, hd behind Turnkey (9-8) at Ripon 6f clm stks (5) gs.
Rightcar Lewis 16-1 (9-0) Slowly into stride and always rear division, 11th of 12, 11l behind Bedloe's Island (9-8) at Redcar 5f (5) gf.
Rio L'Oren (IRE) 33-1 (8-13) Led, pressed 2f out, ridden and headed over 1f out, weakened quickly final furlong, 9th of 12, 10l behind Avontuur (8-10) at Wolverhampton 7f hcp 0-60 (6) pol.
Metroland 11-2 (9-13) Jumped left at start and behind, ridden along and headway over 1f out, stayed on towards finish, 6th of 8, 2l behind Toy Top (8-11) at Thirsk 5f (5) fm.