keen close up, hampered on inside over 3f out, lost place, ridden and headway to chase leaders 2f out, weakened final furlong
led, ridden and headed well over 2f out, kept on same pace
prominent, bumped 4f out, lost place, soon beaten
pulled hard, tracked leader 10f out until over 3f out, ridden and soon weakened
held up in last place but not far away, headway approaching 2f out, ridden to chase winner over 1f out, kept on but no chance with winner
keen, wide in touch, smooth headway over 5f out, chased leader over 3f out, led on bit well over 2f out, shaken up over 1f out, eased inside final furlong, comfortable
An interesting little handicap here and the vote goes to Bay Boy to be just too good for Kylkenny and Three Boars. The Mark Johnston-trained selection has been in decent form without winning just lately, but this looks a good opportunity. This trip is ideal for him, he comes from a yard in very good form right now, and a repeat of his Lingfield run last time will surely be good enough to take this. Kylkenny has plenty of miles on the clock but retains a fair bit of ability and was good enough to win last time out here over 11f. This trip holds no fears for him but a 5lb penalty for that success will be more problematic and we think it will find him out. Three Boars return after a bit of a break and while he has the ability to go well here this is his first start on the surface and he may just be too high in the weights, so we are more than happy to plump for Bay Boy to land the prize.
Kylkenny 20-1 (8-13) Always prominent, driven to challenge over 2f out, led well over 1f out, ridden out, won at Southwell 1m 3f hcp 0-75 (5) fbs in Feb beating Greenbelt (8-4) by 1/2l, 10 ran.
Bay Boy 4-1 (8-6) Led, ridden and headed 2f out, kept on one pace, 4th of 10, 3 1/2l behind Polish Power (9-2) at Lingfield 1m 4f hcp 0-85 (4) pol.
Augustine 25-1 (8-10) Tracked leader, led over 3f out, headed just over 2f out, weakened over 1f out, 9th of 14, 3 1/2l behind Art Modern (9-1) at Lingfield 1m 2f hcp 0-85 (4) pol.
Jackie Kiely 33-1 (9-5) Chased leaders, led over 3f out, headed over 2f out, one pace inside final furlong, 5th of 12, 5l behind Kilimandscharo (8-13) at W'hampton 1m 4f hcp 0-75 (5) pol in Feb.
Top Jaro (FR) 100-1 (9-3) Steadied start, held up and behind, in rear when hampered on inside over 3f out, 10th of 12, 9l behind Kilimandscharo (8-13) at W'hampton 1m 4f hcp 0-75 (5) pol in Feb.
Black Falcon (IRE) 40-1 (8-12) In rear, outpaced halfway, ridden and headway over 1f out, kept on inside final furlong, 3rd of 8, 2l behind Orpen Wide (8-10) at Southwell 1m hcp 0-75 (5) fbs in Dec.
Three Boars 6-4fav (8-12) Tracked leader until 7f out, remained close up, went 2nd on bit entering final furlong, shaken up near finish, not get up, 2nd of 7, shd behind Siena Star (9-2) at Lingfield 1m 2f hcp 0-60 (6) pol in Dec.
