in touch, ridden over 2f out, soon beaten
towards rear, headway over 3f out, ridden and stayed on final furlong.
mid-division, pushed along over 3f out, never near to challenge
in touch, ridden over 2f out, no extra final furlong
prominent, ridden over 2f out, stayed on same pace final furlong
led, pushed along over 2f out, ridden over 1f out, kept on final furlong, headed post
jumped left at start and behind, pushed along over 3f out, ridden over 1f out, stayed on final furlong
jumped left at start, soon tracked leader, ridden over 1f out, stayed on same pace
settled in mid-division, headway over 2f out, ran on final furlong to lead post
hampered at start, towards rear, hampered 6f out, never dangerous
never better than mid-division
held up behind leaders, pushed along over 3f out, effort over 2f out, soon behind.
Strider gets weight off all the rest and can take the day's feature race for Sir Michael Stoute, with Rotuma, Rasid and Jimmy Byrne seen as the main dangers. Strider's trainer is a past-master at getting his second division inmates ready to mop up these sort of prizes, and the three-year-old will line up fit and fancied after opening his account at Sandown in August under a strong ride from Kieren Fallon who is in charge again today. The son of Pivotal showed that he handles cut at the Esher track and a mark of 78 looks fair. Rotuma displayed battling qualities when beating Burgundy at Leicester and has the assistance of a good young apprentice in Daniel Tudhope, so will be a threat. So should Rasid, a confirmed soft-ground specialist who actually beat Rotuma at Nottingham in July and is weighted to do so again. Of the rest, Jimmy Byrne makes some appeal as he has won two of his last three starts and could well have landed the hat-trick at Haydock had he not hung left in the closing stages. Telemachus popped in at a big price at Sandown the other week but the form has since been let down by runner-up Silvaline. In a close looking handicap on paper, we return to Strider as the answer.
