steadied at start and held up, pushed along over 3f out, hard ridden over 1f out, ran on final furlong to lead close home
led steady pace, quickened gallop over 3f out, ridden 2f out, kept on final furlong, headed close home
tracked leader, progress to join leader over 2f out, ridden over 1f out, no extra when hampered inside final furlong
John Dunlop rarely leaves emptied handed from his forays north to Ripon and can pick up again with Hezam, who is fancied to give weight and a beating to Heartshead Dream and Yankiedoodledandy, who are the sole survivors from the five-day entries for the race. Heartshead Dream showed a good attitude when winning over course and distance twelve days ago, where he bounced off the fast ground to hold some moderate rivals at bay. However, he only had a length to spare at the line over a rival that was rated 55 and he will need to work harder on this much different going to follow up. Yankiedoodledandy has also been beaten in some poor races and has plenty to find with the selection this afternoon. Hezaam, who won a much better race than this last time, is still unexposed and has bags of scope for the future. The Red Ransom colt won on good to soft at Newmarket last November and has very little to fear this afternoon.
