held up, headway over 2f out, ridden and stayed on final furlong
chased leaders, ridden 2f out, weakened final furlong
towards rear, headway 2f out, ridden and every chance entering final furlong, stayed on same pace inside
never better than mid-division
held up, headway over 1f out, ran on to lead inside final furlong, kept on well
chased leaders, ridden over 2f out, soon beaten
led, ridden and headed over 1f out, weakened inside final furlong
towards rear, never dangerous
in touch, ridden to lead over 1f out, headed inside final furlong, stayed on same pace
slowly into stride and behind, made some late headway but was never near to challenge
The shortlist here consists of Headland, Mugeba, Mister Benji and Waltzing Wizard, with our vote going to Mister Benji. A number of these runners met over a mile here on December 28 when Waltzing Wizard was a neck in front of Mister Benji (they meet on the same terms today), with Warlingham eight-and-a-quarter lengths further back and Sion Hill just behind him. Back at today's trip we are just going to side with Mister Benji. If you could forgive Warlingham that effort, this winner off a five-pound higher mark than today at Wolverhampton could go well. Headland has won here from his current mark, but over a furlong-shorter trip while Mugeba has been placed on Turf from a seven-pound higher mark, and has shown all-weather promise, albeit at Wolverhampton. Smart Scot looks to have a few pounds to find to score, while Rose Of York ran well here over a mile on November 17 but disappointed last time. Set Alight also seemed to improve last time, but that was also at Wolverhampton, while Sennen Cove is hard to fancy from out of the weights. Once again, then, our vote for this seven-furlong contest goes to Mister Benji.
