close up, led 3f out, ran on final furlong, readily
dwelt, held up, effort 2f out, soon ridden and weakened
raced wide, held up towards rear, ridden and headway over 2f out, kept on one pace
pulled hard, with leader 4f
dwelt, towards rear, headway on inside 3f out, ridden and kept on one pace final 2f
tracked leaders, ridden halfway, weakened over 2f out
dwelt, headway over 4f out, ridden and chased winner over 2f out, weakened final furlong
chased leaders, ridden over 3f out, weakened well over 1f out
pulled hard, led 4f
A quite competitive finale can go to Cloud Dancer over Queen of Night, St Ivian, Old Bailey and Constable Burton. Plenty to get stuck into here but the narrowest of votes goes the way of Cloud Dancer who will find the return to seven furlongs to her advantage after chasing home Grandma Lily last time. Since scoring at York in the summer she has been tried over a variety of distances, but a look back at her record over today's course and distance gives cause for encouragement, and she may be supported to get back some of the Christmas expenses here. Queen of Night did us a favour on Saturday, winning with a bit in hand. This is tougher though and she steps up in trip. Old Bailey needed his return to action at Wolverhampton and showed the benefit when a clear-cut winner over St Ivian here last week. He may have a bit more in the locker, but the latter is now better off at the weights and it would be no surprise if her were to turn the tables on David Barron's charge, especially over this longer trip. The drop back in trip may help the cause of Constable Burton who got back to winning ways over a mile here last time, with first-time blinkers applied. So, a good little contest to go out on and one in which we take Cloud Dancer to defy topweight.
