dwelt, soon in touch, ridden over 3f out, weakened over 2f out
dwelt, soon chasing leaders, ridden over 3f out, weakened over 2f out
slowly into stride, always behind
dwelt, behind, ridden and headway over 1f out, never reached leaders
in touch, headway over 3f out, soon ridden, edged left and kept on inside final furlong
with winner, ridden and every chance 2f out, hung left over 1f out, soon weakened
made all, ridden over 1f out, ran on
chased leaders, ridden 4f out, stayed on same pace
mid-division, lost place halfway, rallied over 1f out, ran on inside final furlong, not trouble winner
With little in the way of public form for us to go on, we take the improving Gold Mask to land this maiden from First Counsel and Nordwind. The selection looks ideally suited by this good ground and appeared to appreciate the step up in trip when runner-up to Dubois at Goodwood on his most recent outing. He will not be found wanting for fitness here and has the application of a first-time visor to sharpen him up, so he looks the one to be on. First Counsel comes from a yard that is flying this season and Michael Jarvis will have been happy enough with the Wolfhound colt's first effort over course and distance recently. He will get every yard of this trip and with plenty of improvement expected he can take a close hand in proceedings. Of the others Nordwind makes most appeal. He finished in front of First Counsel in that recent race here and although two lengths clear of that rival, he perhaps did not look likely to improve as much as the Jarvis-trained runner, but nevertheless should be good enough to make the frame. Successor is interesting after a long absence but is probably best watched, and we will stick with Gold Mask to take the prize.
