reluctant to leave stalls and left well behind, always tailed off
in touch, ridden 3f out, weakened over 2f out
held up in rear, headway over 4f out, weakened over 1f out
held up towards rear, headway over 4f out, chased winner over 2f out, soon hung left, no impression inside final furlong
always prominent, led 3f out, kept on well
soon led, pushed along and headed 3f out, weakened over 2f out
prominent until ridden and weakened 3f out
with leader until lost place 5f out, soon struggling
held up, headway over 2f out, kept on final furlong, never nearer
held up, brief effort on inside over 2f out, no impression
led early, in touch, lost place 4f out, some headway final 2f but no danger
always behind
We will take a chance on Flaming Spirit here, with others to be considered including Cote Soleil, Estimate, Bojangles and Latin Queen. The selection hails from a canny yard and has now had two respectable runs back since an absence. Given that he is well handicapped on his 2002 form and acts on good to soft, then the case for him can be justified. Cote Soleil also hails from a canny operation and has chances based on his Epsom win on good to soft of July 2002. Estimate should be competitive from this mark although he has no form with give, while Bojangles and Latin Queen are closely weighted on the back of their Chepstow runs and hold place claims. German winner Prairie Law should be afforded some respect, while Larad is another that holds place claims from his current mark. Much as Galey River looked unlucky when hampered at Lingfield last time, he has no form on give, which spins us back to Flaming Spirit, who gets the vote in a race run in honour of Elain Mellor and Sandy Murphy.