chased leaders, ridden over 2f out, no extra final furlong
held up mid-division, ridden 2f out, stayed on final furlong
held up behind leaders, effort over 2f out, soon beaten
tracked leader, ridden over 2f out, one pace final furlong
held up, pushed along and headway over 2f out, stayed on final furlong
always behind
made all, shaken up over 1f out, pushed out final furlong, easily
The first time visor may be enough to spark a revival in the fortunes of Fire Up The Band and the five-year-old is fancied to go some way to restoring his slightly tarnished reputation after finding a few too good in his last few starts. However, he does face some tough opposition today and the likes of Orientor, Halmahera and Chookie Heiton are all capable of pushing the selection to the line. So too is Dazzling Bay, who has a blistering turn of foot when he is on song and, as he goes particularly well at this time of year, he is taken as the biggest danger. However, Fire Up The Band, who is trained locally, has a good draw that will play to his strengths in a field of this size and he is taken to put his high cruising speed to good use again today.