led, headed over 2f out, no extra final furlong
prominent until weakened 3f out
held up in touch, headway 4f out, beaten when not much room inside final furlong
in touch, not much room over 1f out, stayed on to have every chance in final furlong, 3rd and held when short of room close home
tracked leader, led over 2f out, ridden well over 1f out, edged left inside final furlong, held up
held up, not much room inside 2f out, switched left over 1f out, stayed on final furlong, never near to challenge
The unexposed Hatch A Plan gets the vote here as the truck has been driven over the cliff with a few of these over the years. Not least with Taffrail, whose decline from Group-race company looks flattered by the fact that he has only been dropped by 20lb in the ratings since last May. While Mexican Pete has let his supporters down on too many occasions for him to be given a confident chance to redeem himself. His tendency to find one too good in a finish is too off-putting for win only purposes; despite him holding fair claims on the pick of his form. As with Leighton, he will no doubt attract support from his faithful though, and he could at least reach the frame if the others come back to him. Abavilla is another to have a look at when the betting starts to warm up as she fared well enough on her reappearance at Bath to assume that she has a race within her somewhere along the line. However, the fact that she has been off for 103 days since then suggests that she is not the easiest horse to train and a positive market indication looks to be the safest advise to forward before getting involved with the Peter Harris-trained filly. By way of contrast, Hatch A Plan seems to get better the further he goes and looks worth siding with on his first try at this trip. Kerrin McEvoy has a good clock in his head and it will be no surprise to see this talented Australian jockey deliver Hatch A Plan just in the nick of time to claim the lion's share of the prize-money today.
