held up towards rear, ridden and headway well over 1f out, kept on inside final furlong, nearest at finish
raced in rear, ridden and headway 2f out, eased inside final furlong
always in rear
chased winner, ridden 3f out, stayed on
keen, close up, outpaced over 2f out, kept on one pace from 1f out
held up in touch, ridden 3f out, kept on same pace final 2f out
held up in touch, ridden and headway to go 3rd 2 out, no extra inside final furlong
close up, ridden 3f out, weakened over 1f out
slowly away, in rear, effort over 3f out, soon beaten
made virtually all, ridden 3f out, driven out
always in rear
In a tricky affair, Man The Gate might provide the answer, with Cristoforo, Street Life and Sir Hayden rated as the main dangers. The selection is now rated 59 but won from a mark of 65 last summer at this track over a two-furlong longer trip. He has also won over a mile here on soft going. Given that he has already proven his fitness this year with a good run last time, he looks set to go well. Street Life rates a major player here following his good second behind Ionian Spring at Newbury, while Sir Hayden's third at Nottingham also showed that he is moving in the right direction. Dissident will probably be better at this trip than the 11 furlongs he ran over at Warwick last time, and Maritime Blues can be given hopes if returning to his good-to-firm form of last summer. Kernel Dowery is lightly raced and could improve this year and has form on good to soft while Cristoforo hails from the highly-astute Barney Curley yard and, even though he has been raised eight pounds for a cosy Warwick win, he looks set to go well again on going he has proven he can handle. Overall, though, we will side with Man The Gate.
