tracked leaders, pushed along halfway, effort between horses to lead approaching final furlong, soon clear
held up in touch, staying on under pressure on rails when not much room inside final furlong, kept on
led, ridden and headed approaching final furlong, weakened quickly
chased leader, hard ridden and every chance over 1f out, kept on under pressure but not pace of winner final furlong
held up in rear, effort on outside over 1f out, never able to challenge
held up in touch, ridden 2f out, kept on under pressure to press for second well inside final furlong, not pace to reach winner
This is a fairly tight heat with the vote going to Royal Challenge but you could build a case for just about all of his opponents. The selection looked progressive when scoring over today's course and distance in July and has not been disgraced in two starts since, where he spoiled his chances with slow breaks. If he gets away on level terms, he looks to hold decent prospects of collecting. As we say, though, it's a pretty tight heat with Dame de Noche, who has a very good chance if repeating her very good third in a valuable Goodwood handicap three runs ago, Domirati, who has failed to see the door open recently despite knocking pretty hard - although he does like it here - and Little Edward, who seemed to be more like his old self over six furlongs at Kempton last time, all holding solid claims. Fiddle Me Blue also seems to be improving, as evidenced by his Bath win last time, and he does not have much to find on the selection based on their July Goodwood runs, but Bohola Flyer has never raced over today's trip. Once again, then, in an interesting contest, we are prepare to side with Royal Challenge.
