Josephine Gordon: I have ridden Via Serendipity a lot at home and he has been going well
Via Serendipity
I think the stable always liked him last season, and he ran a very promising race when third to subsequent Racing Post Trophy winner Rivet in the valuable Convivial maiden at York on his debut. He then put up another solid placed effort before landing a 7f maiden when more forcing tactics were adopted at Newmarket. He is rated only 84 on official figures here against a lot of horses with much higher marks so he clearly faces a stiff task – five are rated in 100s, and Zainhom is top-rated in here on 109 – but the Newmarket form worked out okay, with the third winning a decent maiden at Nottingham, and his work at home coming into this has been good. I have ridden him a lot and he has been going well. He clearly needs to improve a good deal to be competitive in this grade, but he is lightly-raced and hopefully the potential is there. And the first-time tongue-tie may help, too, and Hugo’s horses have been running really well this week.
Storm Ahead
I haven’t ridden him before but he was progressive last season and hopefully he can continue the improvement into his 4yo campaign. He was impressive when beating Sinfonietta, who finished second in the Spring Mile last month, at Salisbury in the summer and then ran two excellent races in defeat off higher marks. The stable had a winner recently and this horse has had only seven starts, so he has more potential to progress than most in here.
Tasaabooq
He hasn’t run up to his best on his last two starts and he races from 1lb out of the handicap, but he had earlier been in good form for me this year, including two course-and-distance wins in March. He makes a very quick reappearance after finishing seventh here on Wednesday night but he has chances if coming back to his best in what looks a competitive little handicap.
Berkeley Vale
I haven’t ridden him before and he looked to have lost his way towards the end of last season. But at least he was dropped from 77 to 65 as a result, and that allows him to get into 0-65 handicap. Blinkers are put on him for the first time now and if he returns to his best turf form then he would have definite chances off this mark, though I see he did finish last on his only start here.
Petitioner
I haven’t ridden him at home but hopefully he is a good ride to pick up. He is a Derby entry who is well-related, and is a Dansili half-brother to the smart 1m4f winner Biographer, who was also Group 2-placed, and Roger Charlton’s horses are in great form. So there are plenty of positives.
Flying Author
He didn’t run well at Lingfield last time, his best form has probably come at Kempton and Chelmsford, where I finished third on him last month. And he does have his stamina to prove over 1m4f, as his best form has come over 1m2f so far, as well as being 1lb out of the handicap. But he would have an outside chance if coming back to the best of his form.
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