held up, ridden and headway over 2f out, one pace final furlong
held up, ridden and headway over 2f out, weakened final furlong
chased leaders 5f
tracked leaders, ridden and edged left over 1f out, ran on to lead post
held up, ridden over 3f out, weakened over 2f out
prominent and pulled hard, ridden 2f out, weakend inside final furlong
held up, not much room over 2f out, soon ridden, no impresison
Quite a competitive race for the grade can go to Newclose, who is less exposed than most and is preferred over Zahunda, Tonjoneski and Extemporise, who are expected to scrap it out for the minor honours today. The last named of that trio is also open to improvement and is just preferred as the one to give the selection the most to do. However, Newclose drops back to a more appropriate trip here after failing to stay a mile and a half at Wolverhampton last time - an effort that can easily forgotten as he was in the chasing pack that had already given up the ghost when they turned for home behind a wide-margin winner. The Barathea gelding has improved for the fitting of a tongue tie in his races and with his stamina sure to last out over this sharp mile, he is given the narrowest vote of confidence today. Zahunda has been knocking on the door of late and has to be considered a big threat on the best of his form - even though he is too unreliable to recommend as anything more than a minimum stakes play.
