slowly away, soon in touch, ridden to chase leaders over 2f out, one pace
held up, in touch on outer, headway to chase leaders over 3f out, one pace
tracked leader, ridden over 2f out, led 1f out, headed inside final furlong, not quicken
held up, headway on outer over 4f out, ridden, weakened over 2f out
chased leaders, ridden over 2f out one pace
chased leaders, ridden over 2f out, weakened over 1f out
led, ridden, headed 1f out, no extra towards finish
held up, weakened over 3f out
held up towards rear, headway on inner over 2f out, soon ridden, led inside final furlong, ridden out
held up in touch, keen, weakened over 2f out
held up towards rear, ridden, headway over 2f out, ran on well to take 2nd close home
An interesting handicap with a few in-form horses, where we side with the bottom-weight New England. His trainer Mark Brisbourne has stated that he believes his charge is better suited to this course than the fibresand circuit at Southwell and that view was seemingly borne out by his half-length defeat of today's opponent Dannettie last month. The latter does get a weight pull of 6lbs for that beating, but New England's superiority could be more than the bare margin as he was brought with a strong late run and made up a lot of ground in the straight. Apart from Dannettie, other dangers include Burnley Al and Hand Chime. The former won a Lingfield handicap on his last start, but there is a suspicion that victory owed a lot to an inspired ride from Paul Hanagan in dictating a slow pace from the front and the Richard Fahey-trained runner is also unproven on this Wolverhampton track. The nine-year-old Hand Chime is well handicapped on his form of a few years back, but is difficult to win with at this point in his career, although today's apprentice rider did partner him to success here last September. But New England seems the most likely winner and gets the vote.
Burnley Al (IRE) 7-1 (9-2) Made all, ridden clear over 1f out, stayed on well, won at Lingfield 1m hcp 0-60 (6) pol beating Samson Quest (9-1) by 3/4l, 11 ran.
Hand Chime 10-1 (8-8) Led early, prominent, keen, ridden when carried slightly left over 1f out, switched right inside final furlong, ran on, 3rd of 10, 3l behind Kindlelight Debut (8-12) at W'hampton 7f app hcp (6) pol.
Atlantic Ace 4-1 (9-3) Slowly into stride, behind, headway and not clear run over 2f out, switched right and not clear run over 1f out, kept on final furlong, not recover, 4th of 11, 5l behind Buscador (8-8) at W'hampton 1m 1f clm (F4) pol in Mar.
Monkstown Road 20-1 (8-2) In rear, ridden along over 3f out, never nearer, 7th of 10, 6l behind Consonant (9-1) at W'hampton 1m 1f hcp 0-75 (5) pol in Dec.
Tregarron 2-1 (9-0) Chased leaders, effort over 1f out, no extra inside final furlong, 4th of 12, 4l behind Barton Sands (9-0) at Lingfield 1m sll (6) pol.
Captain Darling (IRE) 9-2 (8-13) Led until headed over 2f out, weakened under pressure over 1f out, 8th of 11, 9l behind Border Edge (9-0) at Lingfield 1m hcp 0-60 (6) pol.
Danettie 7-1 (8-13) Held up, headway over 2f out, stayed on to take 3rd final furlong, 3rd of 11, 3l behind Border Edge (9-0) at Lingfield 1m hcp 0-60 (6) pol.
New England 13-8fav (9-8) Held up, effort and carried right 2f out, led inside last, headed close home, 2nd of 13, hd behind Legacy (8-9) at W'hampton 1m 1f app banded (7) pol.
