held up in rear but in touch, headway over 1f out, chased winner inside final furlong, never a threat
prominent, hard driven 2f out, weakened approaching final furlong
led until over 1f out, faded final furlong
tracked leader, led over 1f out, ridden clear inside final furlong, stayed on strongly
slowly into stride, chased leaders, outpaced 2f out, no impression
Cool Silk Boy is penalised for winning a Class 6 handicap at Southwell last time and Midnight Malibu is a maiden winner at Nottingham. Justice Rock and Carlovian might have been expected to show more progress with a combined nine starts in maiden company so far and the vote goes to TOP OF THE BANK. Kevin Ryan's charge ran well enough in a decent maiden at York without troubling the winner Ajaya, a subsequent runner-up in Group 2 company in France, and can land this with further improvement.
Top of The Bank 10-1 (9-5) Led, headed 4f out, chased winner, ridden and no impression from over 1f out, stayed on same pace, 2nd of 6, 4 1/2l behind Ajaya (9-5) at York 5f mdn stks (3) gd in Jul.
Carlovian 11-1 (9-5) Keen led, clear over 2f out, ridden and headed entering final furlong, weakened towards finish, 4th of 5, 5 1/2l behind Highly Sprung (9-5) at Catterick 6f mdn stks (5) gf in Jul.
Cool Silk Boy (IRE) 5-1 (9-1) Made most, ridden clear over 1f out, ran on, won at Southwell 5f (6) pol in Jul beating Rampers (9-7) by 3l, 9 ran.
Midnight Malibu (IRE) 50-1 (8-1) Raced near side and prominent, pushed along halfway, weakened well over 1f out, 17th of 22, 6 1/2l behind Lathom (9-0) at Newbury 5f (2) gf in Jul.
Justice Rock 12-1 (9-5) Tracked leader, ridden to lead over 1f out, headed and stayed on same pace inside final furlong, 3rd of 7, 2 1/4l behind Dutch Gallery (9-5) at Newmarket 6f mdn stks (4) gd in Jul.
