tracked winner, effort over 2f out, soon weakened
chased leaders, outpaced and lost place over 5f out, headway over 1f out, stayed on final furlong, not reached winner
made all, ridden over 2f out, kept on under pressure, all out
tracked winner, lost place well over 3f out, soon beaten
held up in rear, headway over 3f out, hung left under pressure and soon chasing winner over 2f out, kept on same pace final furlong
Nonrunner
Jim Martin is best in at the weights judged by official BHA ratings but Linda Perratt's gelding was beaten a long way out in a handicap here on his reappearance in June and looks best watched at present in a race taken to go to SAN SILVESTRO, who gets the vote with Castlebury rated the best of the rest. The selection has shown improved form this term with two successes at Musselburgh from his seven starts and Ann Duffield's gelding has every chance of completing a third win of the season now returned into a seller. Ask Dan has to be respected now that Michael Dods is amongst the winners again but the three-year-old needs to improve on recent efforts to trouble the judge. Eric Alston's Dark Velvet is less exposed than most of these after just six starts but has yet to even be placed let alone win any of those outings so he is hard to recommend. Hettie Hubble ran better in a handicap here over six furlongs last time but she is far from likely to stay the longer trip this evening and this is tougher anyway. Castlebury finally opened his account at the 14th time of asking when successful at Pontefract in a handicap last time but Alan Swinbank's gelding has a penalty to carry for that win and preference is for San Silvestro.
Castlebury (IRE) 5-1 (9-5) Tracked leaders, joined leader over 3f out, ridden to lead 2f out, headed entering final furlong, driven and rallied to lead near finish, won at Pontefract 1m 2f hcp 0-70 (5) gd in Jul beating Pitbull (9-1) by nk, 9 ran.
San Silvestro (IRE) 15-8fav (9-1) Tracked leader, ridden over 2f out, weakened inside final furlong, 4th of 7, 3 1/2l behind Natural Rhythm (8-9) at Beverley 1m hcp 0-75 (5) gd in Jul.
Ask Dan (IRE) 12-1 (9-1) Led, ridden over 2f out, soon headed, gradually weakened, 5th of 13, 9l behind Speed Dating (9-1) at Carlisle 1m 1f 3yo hcp 0-70 (5) gd in Jul.
Dark Velvet (IRE) 20-1 (8-11) Dwelt, raced alone stands side, ridden over 2f out, never on terms, 14th of 15, 17l behind Only A Splash (8-9) at Ripon 6f 3yo mdn hcp 0-70 (5) sft in Jul.
Hettie Hubble 33-1 (8-3) Chased leaders, ridden halfway, stayed on same pace final furlong, 3rd of 10, 2l behind Feeling Fresh (9-5) at Hamilton 6f app hcp 0-60 (6) gf in Jul.
Jim Martin 12-1 (9-5) Slowly into stride, towards rear, weakened over 2f out, 9th of 10, 30l behind Stateside (8-9) at Hamilton 1m 1f hcp 0-75 (5) gf in Jun.
