in touch, headway and tracked leaders halfway, ridden and weakened over 2f out
towards rear, headway 7f out, chased winner from over 2f out until weakened over 1f out
raced keen towards rear, headway 5f out, effort over 3f out, one pace under pressure
towards rear, pushed along and headway 4f out, kept on one pace final 2f out
tracked leaders, ridden and weakened halfway
in touch, close at halfway, pushed along in touch when hit rail over 3f out, not recover
towards rear, some headway halfway, soon ridden and weakened
in touch, outpaced 4f out, rallied over 1f out, stayed on to chase winner inside final furlong
mid-division, pushed along halfway soon weakened
It is very hard to be confident in naming the winner here as many can be given chances. That said, we will side with Roaringwater. Looking at the runners and Blue Buster won a modest bumper at Sedgefield last time and will need to improve on that to score here, although he did win very easily after being confidently supported. Leading Man has shown promise in each of his bumper starts and is fully entitled to be on the shortlist of possibles here. The French-bred Malt de Vergy is an interesting runner from the Len Lungo stable, which does well in these types of events. Peter Beaumont's Mr Prickle and Peski Moose, from the Sue Smith stable, have interesting breeding, while Notaproblem showed form in an Irish point before finishing a good second at Ayr on his sole run in this country. He too has to be considered. The fact that Richard Phillips sends Roaringwater up from his base is eyecatching, so watch for a market move, and Mick Easterby, who trains Blue Buster, adds some intrigue by also running Rosedale Gardens, who showed some promise late in the day on his debut. Sue Smith also runs Stagecoach Diamond but The Yellow Earl looks held by Blue Buster on Sedgefield form. Abbey Princess also cottoned to what was required late in the day on her debut here 12 days ago and should improve, while Casterflo and Dawn Devoy cannot be dismissed based on breeding. It all adds up to an interesting race in which the betting should be watched with interest. However, without the benefit of that knowledge, we will side with Roaringwater.
