slowly into stride, held up, headway over 3f out, switched right over 2f out, soon every chance, ridden inside final furlong, not quicken
tracked leaders, ridden over 4f out, not much room over 3f out, weakened 2f out
led early, tracked leaders, ridden 4f out, kept on inside final furlong
held up, ridden over 5f out, weakened 4f out
soon led, ridden and headed 3f out, weakening when not much room over 2f out
in touch, ridden and headway 4f out, led 3f out, ridden and edged left 1f out, stayed on
Big Moment, a very classy stayer at his best, is fancied to defy topweight here, while the three-year-olds, Regal Setting and Hezaam, are likely to give him most to do. The latter is an improving sort from John Dunlop's stable who was just touched off at Goodwood last time. This extra two furlongs will be unknown territory for him, but the ground will certainly hold no fears. Regal Setting is a lightly-raced sort from Sir Mark Prescott's team and scored on his first attempt at this trip at Nottingham last time. This is a better race and he is five pounds higher now, but cannot be ruled out. However, we give a confident vote to Amanda Perrett's six-year-old, Big Moment. He hasn't won since joining the stable from that of Barry Hills, but has been running in some very competitive races, most notably the Chester Cup, in which he has been placed second and third in each of the last two seasons. He didn't quite stay the marathon 22 furlongs when favourite for the Queen Alexandra Stakes at Royal ascot but shaped with plenty of credit on his only other start, finishing sixth of 15 behind subsequent Ebor winner Mephisto at Goodwood. This is a drop in class for Big Moment, he won't mind the ground and off a two pounds lower mark he looks a decent bet.
