Southwell 18:15 – Young John
Has really got his act together around here for the Mike Murphy team on his last two visits over today’s trip. The fact that he stays slightly further will suit as this race is loaded with natural pace and I wouldn’t like him to be in the pace smash-up, early on.
Jockey Alistair Rawlinson gets a good tune out of him and there is no reason that a mark of 84 should stop him from returning to the winners enclosure.
Dundalk 18:30 – Mulzamm
While he’s never going to get back up to the heights of the mid-90s rating, he’s dropped significantly to be of interest here and beyond. He knows how to win around Dundalk although can prove frustrating as his last two efforts have shown.
We have a change of hands on board and that may just help him to settle a little better in the early stages of his races as he did too much in the first half of his last contest and his run suffered as he faded to finish sixth.
Southwell 19:15 Fard
Is now with his third trainer in Mohamed Mubarak and he’s never going to live up to his original purchase price of 130,000 Guineas. He was picked up fairly recently by Mubarak for 6,000 guineas and may well just prove a handy purchase.
This is a quality trainer operating at a much lower level than he used to a few seasons ago. He may have found a bargain buy, that can repay him on his first spin for the new team.
Southewll 19:45 Cape Agulhas
The Irish raider had a near miss here when sixth over 1m 4f off the exact same rating of just 48, on his previous try around this venue. He gave it away that day with a messy start and then had to suffer a very wide trip throughout the contest.
He returns to what could be a favoured surface and up in distance to 1m 6f can make this trip more worthwhile.
Dundalk 20:00 – Spanish Soprano
Doesn’t have the best wins-to-runs ratio but it does improve slightly when we narrow it down to her all-weather performances. She’s not hiding anything from the handicapper, but did win here over the mile last February and the step back up in distance to 1m 2f on Friday night should not be a problem.
She has a bit of natural gate-speed to overcome what is a slightly difficult draw in box nine. That early pace can see her find a decent position.
Dundalk 20:30 – Yarraman
He went so fast in the early stages last time over course and distance that it was no surprise that he paid the price for that late on to finish fourth.
Again, he has been done no favours by the wide draw in box 15 and that is factored into the likely price. Where he drawn towards the inside he would be near the top of the market. His all-weather profile is starting to look impressive and he’s not reached his ceiling rating at the moment under these conditions.
*Prices correct at time of posting
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