always prominent, ridden 2f out, led inside final furlong, driven out
always prominent, chased leader over 4f out, ridden to lead 2f out, headed just over 1f out, one pace inside final furlong
slowly into stride, held up, headway over 4f out, ridden over 2f out, led just over 1f out, headed inside final furlong, not quickened
chased leader for over 3f, weakened 3f out, tailed off
led, ridden and headed 2f out, soon weakened
unruly and sat down in stalls, always well tailed off
Man Of Letters put up a very promising seasonal reappearance and can provide the answer to this ordinary maiden, with Alexei, City Palace and Land Of Nod the other obvious ones to consider. Man Of Letters started at 33-1 at Doncaster's Lincoln meeting and in a big field he led from the gun and was only collared in the final furlong to eventually finish fourth in what is the best piece of form on offer here. He is bred to do well at this trip and the biggest imponderable is the ground, but that goes for all of them so we will take our chances with him. Alexei is bred to get a fair bit further than this and makes his debut here. The Ashkalani gelding will be well prepared by James Fanshawe and the market should be watched for any stable confidence. City Palace is also bred to be best over further, 10 furlongs in his case being by Grand Lodge, and showed as much when being unable to match the speed of a few others over six furlongs on his Newbury debut last October. This should be a nice reintroduction for him and with his yard traditionally doing well here he is expected to improve on that initial run. Land Of Nod has not been seen out since finishing down the field in a couple of maidens last backend and with a winter under her belt she can be expected to progress. However, she too is bred to get further and is also unproven on the ground and so we are happy to stick with Mark Johnston's Man Of Letters.
