slowly into stride, soon pushed along in touch, ridden over 3f out, soon weakened
chased leaders, ridden over 2f out, led over 1f out, ran on
chased leaders, ridden over 2f out, kept on same pace final furlong
chased leader, ridden to challenge 2f out, weakened final furlong
chased leaders, ridden over 2f out, soon weakened
led, ridden over 2f out, headed over 1f out, weakened inside final furlong
slowly into stride, pushed along and behind, some headway on inner over 2f out, weakened over 1f out
chased leaders, ridden over 2f out, kept on same pace
mid-division, ridden and headway over 2f out, one pace after
chased leaders, ridden over 1f out, kept on and edged right inside final furlong
always towards rear
Strike Lucky gets the vote here but there are plenty of others that will justifiably attract supporters, including Donegal Shore, Its Ecco Boy, Eastern Blue, Festive Affair, Cleveland Way and Attorney. The selection displayed greenness when winning at the fourth time of asking at Wolverhampton last time. A rating of 53 hardly seems excessive for his first foray into handicap company and he can go well again, despite being drawn in stall 15 of 16. Turning to the others, Xaloc Bay is back to a winning mark, although that course and distance success came two years ago, and he too has not fared well with the draw. As mentioned, a number of runners will line-up hopeful of a good run and, of these, Donegal Shore, Its Ecco Boy, Festive Affair and Cleveland Way arguably have the best of the draw as there is a school of thought that says that a middle draw is the place to be at Southwell over today's six-furlong trip these days. That said, we are going to opt for promise over established form and, as such in a tricky opener, Strike Lucky gets the call.
