Josephine Gordon: He goes really well here, and actually won this race last season
Sardenya
Only two in here have experience, and they both ran well on their debuts, and there are a lot of newcomers from big stables. Luckily I am on one of them, although I don’t know anything about her! She is a Kodiac half-sister to loads of winners though, so hopefully she will be able to go a bit.
Hyde Park
This is obviously a competitive 7f handicap, with some classy and progressive horses in here, but I think I am on one with a decent chance. He showed some really good form towards the start of last season before disappointing a bit, but apparently they gelded him and he showed the benefit of that when running away with a decent 7f maiden at Doncaster in October. The handicapper was impressed too and he now races off a mark of 93, and hopefully he can make his presence felt here on ground that should be fine for him.
Batts Rock
Apparently, he had a problem last year but they gelded him before he made his reappearance at Ascot, and he ran a blinder to finish second to the impressive, well-handicapped Appeared there. He is higher in the weights here, but obviously bumped into one last time, and is clearly lightly-raced and open to a lot of improvement in his own right. And that Ascot run was his first in a long time, too.
Pettochside
I won on him at Salisbury last season and he is a big horse, so he probably needed his first run of the season, and he was still a little gassy when running a decent race at Ascot last time. The handicapper hasn’t dropped him for those runs, which is a bit disappointing, but he goes really well here, and actually won this race last season, so you have to be optimistic about his chances. Hopefully, he will be spot on here.
Music Lesson
Only five runners in this 7f maiden, and my filly looks to hold a fair chance. She was second to a good subsequent winner in Prosper at Kempton and then reappeared to finish a promising fourth over 1m at Nottingham. The step down to 7f may well suit her, too, although Contentment has good maiden form as well and Roger has quite a well-bred newcomer in here, too.
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