slowly into stride, always behind
held up, headway over 2f out, ridden over 1f out, stayed on to go second close home
held up, ridden over 2f out, no impression
chased leader, ridden over 2f out, weakened over 1f out
in touch, headway over 2f out, ridden over 1f out, led and edged right inside final furlong, ran on
mid-division, ridden and headway over 2f out, every chance well over 1f out, not quicken inside final furlong
chased leaders, ridden to lead over 1f out, headed and no extra inside final furlong
slowly into stride, headway over 5f out, ridden over 3f out, weakened 2f out
With Russian Symphony overburdened by the handicapper, this can be fought out between Up Tempo, Night Air, Mistral Sky and Les Arcs, and we take Mistral Sky to score. The selection was value for more than the one length winning margin that he enjoyed last time out and ran on well to score over a trip that clearly suits. This is more competitive and she will need to be every bit as good again, but with the others also having to produce their best to be successful at the weights, we take him to follow up with things in his favour. Up Tempo has plenty of solid form in similar company to bring to the table and was a course and distance winner here in October. A subsequent rise in the weights has prevented him from going in again, and he will probably be just short of a win again here. Night Air is very interesting on his all weather debut for David Loder and handled slower ground well enough on his only attempt on turf to suggest he can also figure. Market confidence will help after a fair break, while Les Arcs is consistent enough and will be better over this trip, but may have too much weight. Our choice here then is Mistral Sky.
