slowly into stride, soon pushed along in rear, headway under pressure over 1f out, stayed on final furlong
close up, ridden on outer and every chance 2f out, weakened over 1f out
held up in mid-division, headway 2f out, pressed leaders and every chance inside final furlong, not quicken near finish
held up in rear, stayed on final furlong but every going pace to reach leaders
held up in mid-division, hard ridden and behind final 2f
held up in rear, effort on outside over 2f out, stayed on same pace
led, ridden and headed 2f out, weakened over 1f out
pressed leader over 5f
held up in mid-division, headway and squeezed through over 1f out, hard ridden and ran on to lead near finish
slowly away and always in rear
held up in rear, no headway final 2f
tracked leaders, ridden over 2f out, led narrowly over 1f out, headed and not quicken near finish
close up, led narrowly over 2f out to over 1f out, weakened final furlong
Flowerdrum can beat Alrafid and Red Spell, with Norton and last year's winner Highland Reel in with a shout. Flowerdrum boasts the best recent form overall, so is taken to bounce back after being beaten by the draw as much as anything at Haydock a month ago. She was on the wide outside and lost the initiative when they swung into the straight, finishing fourth in the end behind Blue Trojan. Prior to that, William Haggas's filly found the extra required when scoring at Yarmouth, and with conditions in her favour here, should take the beating. Alrafid's second to Uhumagoo in the Vodafone Mile at Epsom was a useful piece of form, despite the latter's poor showing at Royal Ascot last week, but Gary Moore's charge is held by last year's winner of today's event, Highland Reel, on Goodwood running in May. Highland Reel in turn was well adrift in the Royal Hunt Cup, with Norton a creditable seventh and so the latter must not be overlooked. The biggest danger to the selection though could well be Red Spell who was caught in the closing stages by the progressive Alshawameq at Newmarket three weeks ago. He would have gone for the Brittannia had the ground not been too fast last week, and he should not be overawed by his older opponents. We shall take Flowerdrum to have his measure in an interesting handicap.
