took keen hold, tracked leaders, shaken up 2f out, ridden and unable to quicken over 1f out, soon beaten, edged right inside final furlong
slowly into stride, raced in 5th, pushed along 3f out, ridden 2f out, soon weakened
led, shaken up and edged left over 1f out, soon ridden and hung left, headed near finish
tracked leader, ridden over 1f out, ran on strongly inside final furlong to lead near finish
took keen hold, soon steadied into 4th, effort over 2f out, ridden and edged left over 1f out, soon beaten
Only a small field for the Greenham but a fascinating contest none the less; CANFORD CLIFFS gets the vote to gain revenge on Arcano, whilst his stablemate Dick Turpin can hold Bullwhip in the protracted battle for third. Richard Hannon has described this son of Tagula as the best he's ever had and his victory at Royal Ascot last summer suggested that to be a fair comment; there was no more impressive victor at the meeting in our view. The form of that Coventry success has been boosted by the runner up who himself looks smart, so it was disappointing that our selection got beat at Deauville behind Arcano. There seemed no obvious excuse that day and so there's a case to be made for siding with Brian Meehan's horse again, but our feeling is Canford Cliffs has earned another chance to show his true colours with this step up to seven furlongs seen as no problem, although if he does win a mile might be in the Guineas. Arcano now runs in Sheikh Hamdan Al Maktoum's colours and clearly has to be considered; this trip won't be a problem and he's done nothing wrong so far. Dick Turpin won a sales' race in Ireland as a juvenile and ran with credit in the Dewhurst but his trainer doesn't rate him as good as Canford Cliffs whilst Bullwhip was impressive on his debut and has no fitness questions to answer but this is a big step up ahead of his second race and Rodrigo De Torres looks some way short of these. Canford Cliffs gets the vote to further enhance his lofty reputation.
Arcano (IRE) 9-2 (8-13) won at Deauville(FR) 6f 2yo Grp 1 gd in Aug beating Special Duty (8-10) by hd, 5 ran.
Bullwhip (IRE) 7-1 (9-3) Slowly away, held up towards rear, headway 3f out, led 2f out, clear over 1f out, won at Doncaster 7f 3yo mdn (4) gs in Mar beating African Wave (9-3) by 7l, 16 ran.
Canford Cliffs (IRE) 4-9fav (8-13) 3rd of 5, 1/2l behind Arcano (8-13) at Deauville(FR) 6f 2yo Grp 1 gd in Aug.
Dick Turpin (IRE) 8-1 (9-1) Chased leaders, switched right and effort over 1f out, kept on same pace, 6th of 15, 4 1/2l behind Beethoven (9-1) at Newmarket 7f 2yo Grp 1 (1) gd in Oct.
Rodrigo De Torres 16-1 (9-3) Raced freely, close up, ridden over 2f out, effort to challenge leader over 1f out, kept on same pace final furlong, 4th of 5, 8l behind Champagne Style (8-12) at Newmarket 1m 2yo stks (2) gd in Oct.
