made most over 2f out, soon ridden and outpaced, no chance with leading pair from over 1f out
tracked leading pair, steady headway to lead over 2f out, ridden and hard pressed from over 1f out, stayed on gamely final furlong, just held on
held up in rear, steady headway over 2f out, driven to challenge over 1f out, ridden and kept on and every chance final furlong, just held
Nonrunner
Alan Swinbank has won the last three renewals of this race so Honimiere could be made shorter than her form merits in which case there could be a case for siding with CIPHER instead. Honimiere kept on well to win well at Carlisle and should be competitive under her penalty but she was able to control the pace on that occasion and very much got the run of the race. She's likely to have more competition for the lead in this field with Postman in the line-up and that could count against her. Sunshine Always was too keen for his own good at Haydock where he also met with interference but there's no doubt that there's more to come from him. Tiger Reigns was just run out of things by a progressive rival at Ayr and is another runner to keep on side but it's to Cipher that we look to for the winner. He was green on debut when slowly away and again came from off the pace when stepped up to a mile at Redcar. The runner-up had shown a useful level of form prior to that whilst it was a more encouraging run from the third who had previously been soundly beaten behind Sunshine Always. That suggests that the handicapper hasn't taken many chances but Mark Johnston has his team in good order and is a past master at bringing about steady improvement from his charges so it's to be hoped that Cipher can make sufficient progress to score.
Cipher 25-1 (8-13) Mid-division, headway over 3f out, soon led, ridden and hung right from over 1f out, stayed on well to go clear final furlong, won at Redcar 1m mdn auc stks (6) gd beating Luc Jordan (8-13) by 4 1/2l, 12 ran.
Tiger Reigns 12-1 (7-13) Close up and raced keen, chased winner over 1f out, stayed on, 2nd of 9, 3/4l behind Firebet (9-7) at Ayr 1m 3yo hcp 0-100 (2) gf.
Sunshine Always (IRE) Evensfav (9-2) Took keen hold behind leaders, ridden over 2f out, staying on when not much room and hampered inside final furlong, no extra close home, 4th of 6, 2l behind Deadly Encounter (9-0) at Haydock 7f 3yo hcp 0-85 (4) gf.
Postman 7-2 (9-4) Tracked leaders, outpaced over 3f out, soon ridden and no impression, 4th of 5, 6l behind Tarzan (9-4) at Redcar 1m 1f 3yo hcp 0-75 (5) fm in May.
Honimiere (IRE) 11-2 (8-2) Made all, quickened 3f out, soon hard pressed, ridden and held on under pressure final furlong, won at Carlisle 1m 1f flls hcp 0-85 (4) gf beating Snow Dancer (8-9) by 1l, 6 ran.
Liteup My World (USA) 16-1 (9-3) Pulled hard, held up in rear, ridden 2f out, no impression, 9th of 11, 12l behind Emirates Sports (9-3) at Great Leighs 6f 2yo mdn stks (5) pol in Nov.
