held up, ridden and headway over 2f out, kept on final furlong
held up and took keen hold, ridden well over 2f out, soon weakened
made all, ridden 2f out, stayed on well
in touch, ridden to go briefly 2nd over 2f out, no extra inside final furlong
held up in rear, effort 3f out, never dangerous
tracked leaders, ridden to go 2nd approaching 2f out, kept on final furlong
There is sometimes little point in opposing Sir Michael Stoute when he has his string firing so, although Kingsword is unlikely to be the most original selection of the day, he is preferred to Mutasallil, who is the obvious danger after his winning reappearance at Ripon 25 days ago. Out of the rest: Our Teddy had some very useful juvenile form but has so far refused to show anything like that now he is a couple of years older. Whereas Crow Wood, Spuradich and Fine Palette are all vulnerable to an unexposed type these days. Therefore, we stick with Pontefract's most famous adopted son on the current riding scene to bring home the spoils once more. No one rides the course quite as well as the champion jockey when he is provided with the ammunition, so with a good deal of improvement anticipated, Kingsword is selected, even though this is a much lesser target than the Group races he missed last year. He does however, have a typical profile of a horse to follow from the Stoute yard and it will not be surprising to see him be confirmed to be on target for something like the John Smith's Cup at York if he is successful here.
