tracked leaders, blundered and lost place from 8th
tracked leader, led 4th, clear approaching 5th, ridden approaching 2 out, headed approaching last, soon weakened
in rear, not fluent 2nd, blundered 7th, weakened next
led to 4th, tracked leader, ridden and outpaced from 4 out, led approaching last, ridden out
held up in touch, went 2nd 5 out, outpaced next, ridden approaching 2 out, one pace from last
Just the five runners stand their ground at the overnight stage here and while Ceresfield and Sharpastrizam have to be respected the vote goes to Kind Sir, who is hard to oppose. Tony Carroll's ran out the easy winner of a handicap at Fontwell last month when having Harik (a winner since) four lengths adrift. A 6lb rise for that seems perfectly fair and, with the gelding due to go up another 2lbs in future races, he looks ahead of the handicapper at present. Richard Guest's Ceresfield did nothing wrong when scoring at Southwell last time and has to be respected off his new mark at a track where his handler has a good record. He rates a bigger threat than Sharpastrizam, who has claims on his defeat of the selection in March but has disappointed in two starts since then. Darnley has shown little sign of encouragement since scoring at Newcastle in December, while Lord Of The Hill now looks to be a shade high in the weights. Kind Sir is in form at present and is the selection to take advantage of a favourable mark.
