slowly into stride, towards rear in 5th, headway on outside over 2f out, soon chased winner, ridden to lead over 1f out, headed inside final furlong, kept on
led, ridden and headed over 1f out, rallied to regain lead inside final furlong, kept on gamely
tracked winner until ridden over 2f out, soon weakened
dwelt, tracked leaders in 3rd, ridden and kept on from over 1f out
in rear, struggling from over 4f out
in touch in 4th, ridden and not much room on inside over 2f out, hard ridden and kept on from over 1f out
There is not much to choose between Kidlat and Buaiteoir on their running over a longer trip here in November but the latter won twice over today's trip at Dundalk and is preferred. Lytham needs further to show his best and Nicholas Pocock is struggling off his current mark so the vote goes to D'ARTAGNAN. Gay Kelleway's charge comfortably landed the odds in a maiden race at Lingfield last time and looks capable of even better now handicapping for the first time.
Buaiteoir (FR) 5-1 (9-1) Steadied start, held up towards rear, headway 2f out, stayed on under pressure inside final furlong, never nearer, 4th of 10, 4 1/2l behind West End Lad (8-10) at Wolverhampton 1m 1f hcp 0-85 (4) pol in Nov.
Kidlat 6-1 (8-9) Led, joined 2f out, kept narrow advantage until headed over 1f out, kept trying inside final furlong, 3rd of 11, hd behind Franco Is My Name (9-0) at Kempton 1m 2f hcp 0-85 (4) pol in Dec.
D'artagnan (SAF) 2-5fav (8-5) Made all, ridden clear final furlong, readily, won at Lingfield 1m mdn stks (5) pol in Dec beating Penbryn (9-3) by 4l, 5 ran.
Tuscan King 6-1 (8-13) Slowly into stride, soon recovered to track leaders, went 2f out, ridden and edged left well over 1f out, weakened inside final furlong, 8th of 9, 11l behind Tewin Wood (8-8) at Kempton 1m 3yo clm stks (6) pol in Dec.
Lytham (IRE) 20-1 (9-0) Dwelt, pulled hard, soon tracked leaders, led over 6f out, headed 4f out, weakened quickly over 2f out, last of 14, 28l behind Aurora Sky (9-7) at Kempton 1m 2f hcp 0-70 (5) pol in Dec.
Nicholas Pocock (IRE) 7-2 (8-8) Keen held up, ridden and headway approching final furlong, ran on just failed, 2nd of 7, hd behind The Winged Assasin (8-12) at Wolverhampton 1m 1f app hcp 0-75 (5) pol in Dec.