held up in rear, headwday on outside from 2f out, edged left and ran on to lead inside final furlong
with leader, ridden and every chance over 2f out, weakend over 1f out
soon led, ridden and headed inside final furlong, unable to quicken
pulled hard in touch, ridden and chased leader over 1f out, no extra inside final furlong
in touch, ridden over 2f out, soon weakened
headway 5f out, chased leaders, ridden over 2f out, weakened over 1f out
steady start, always towards rear
Ben Hanbury's Free Option is well treated judged by official BHB ratings but the booking of inexperienced apprentice Laura Pike is of concern and preference is for stablemate New Options, who is preferred to Lucayan Monarch. While yet to win over seven furlongs, the selection has run well over the trip previously and has given every indication of late that a step up to today's trip would suit. With the Musson yard continuing in good form, he makes more appeal than Lucayan Monarch. Paul Blockley's runners seem to have gone off the boil of late and the son of Cadeaux Genereux has been expensive to follow since winning at Southwell in January 11 starts ago. The Richard Phillips-trained Last Rebel has given little sign of encouragement since joining current connections from Germany and a bigger threat may come from Richard Hannon's once raced Rocket or Amanda Bowlby's Scenic Flight, who is entitled to come on for his recent reappearance outing. However, the booking of Fallon for New Options takes the eye, especially as he was booked for Free Options at the five-day stage, and he gets the vote.
