tracked leaders, raced quite keenly, pushed along over 3f out, soon edged left, went 2nd briefly inside final furlong, kept on
last to break, held up in last, closed over 3f out, switched right 2f out, went 2nd and edged left inside final furlong, unable to challenge winner
led, headed narrowly over 2f out, driven and led again over 1f out, stayed on well
chased winner, closed over 4f out, led narrowly over 2f out, headed over 1f out, no extra inside final furlong
Desert Encounter is bidding to win this for the third time in four years but hasn’t managed a win this season and hasn’t quite scaled the heights achieved last term. Though receiving 3lb, he might struggle to get the better of EXTRA ELUSIVE, who has been on a steep upward curve since teaming up with Hollie Doyle and is a different animal to the one that finished last in this race in 2018 and well behind Elarqam at Goodwood last year. The latter has been well below par the last twice but a return to his best would see him in the shake-up. Gifts Of Gold won easily at Chelmsford but none of those behind have franked the form.
Extra Elusive 3-1 (9-8) Chased leader, challenged over 3f out, led over 1f out, stayed on well, ridden out, won at Windsor 1m 2f Grp 3 stks (1) sft in Aug beating Fox Chairman (9-5) by 1l, 5 ran.
Desert Encounter (IRE) 10-3 (9-5) Steadied start, held up in rear, stumbled 7f out, switched left and headway over 2f out, switched right over 1f out, not much room and bumped, went 3rd inside final furlong, kept on, 3rd of 6, 2 1/4l behind Le Don De Vie (9-5) at Windsor 1m 3f lst stks (1) sft in Aug.
Elarqam 15-8fav (9-6) Led, headed narrowly and ridden over 2f out, weakened over 1f out, 6th of 7, 8 1/4l behind Aspetar (9-6) at York 1m 2f Grp 2 stks (1) gd in Jul.
Gifts Of Gold (IRE) 3-1jfav (10-0) Difficult loading, led over 1f, tracked leader, led again going well over 2f out, soon clear, easily, won at Chelmsford City 1m 2f hcp (2) pol in Aug beating Homespin (8-8) by 6l, 6 ran.
