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Moderate stuff at Great Leighs with Evelyn May an OR70ish
type and vulnerable in open maidens (see her picture in the VP). But, this
is an auction and she receives weight from everything else except Kitty
Allen who is a slight lesser physical type anyway, and has shown a
little less on the track. The sort of set-up where you would instinctively
look for something with a better profile. But, aided by a suspect or little
understood range of trainers, none of the others stand out. Handcuff was
an early debut runner for Jamie Osborne and was probably a limited member
of his early team. His 2yos haven't run well this year and Handcuff was
an early indicator with a bad run at Southwell. A long break and probably
with limited development potential anyway he doesn't appeal.
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Nick Littmoden is a trainer to avoid with 2yos and Jubilee Juggins
achieved little FTO and you can't trust the development. Michael Wigham
seems one of those trainers, Barney Curley would be the Über example,
who takes more pleasure in being clever about training winners than the
winners themselves. So, if there's a lot of market support for Elsie Jo
you might take some interest but there's nothing else in the profile to
recommend her. New trainer G. Baker started his training career with 2yos
by winning a seller with a wound up filly and the three debuts since have
been poor. So a positive for picking out the usable one from his string
but was it really necessary to use the seller route to win with her? Anyway,
Rebelwithoutacause hasn't shown anything in two goes and 3TO isn't
the time to start if you are looking for a handicap mark.
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Which means that having turned left and right, been through the double
doors, down the stairs at the back you have two choices. Going through
the door back out onto Evelyn May 'Street' or thinking John Best might
train a debut winner with Dakota Hills. Not a tempting prospect
because Mr Best doesn't seem to know when they are going to win and that
leaves the rest of us guessing as well ("I'm in you head!", "I'm in your
head...", Yes, John).
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And so to Salisbury and, oh dear, more pondering about the unstable
edifice that is the Best Stable career development policy. If Square
Eddie were trained by, nice Vanilla, Mr Hannon he would already have
won at least one race and had a go in something a bit more taxing.
He cost a lot of money by the stable standards ($200,000) and because they
are always looking to sell for a profit this often leads to runs in high
class races to boost the perceived value for potential buyers. So, he started
off in a Windsor conditions race (like Bertie Southstreet did in 2005)
and ran well in what looks a better race in retrospect. The winner has
competed well, when she is in the mood, since and the second nearly won
a sub-standard July Stakes having given Classic Blade and easy lead and
a head start. The other runner has come back from running badly to win
a nursery off topweight.
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So, pick off a maiden and then Royal Ascot? No, lets just run at the Royal
Meeting. A midfield run in the Coventry Stakes which B2yoR rated 44 but
readers should have learned that following Ascot form can lead to supporting
a lot of over-rated losers NTO. This is because the Royal Ascot races often
get over-rated even if you are trying to avoid it because the Group/Listed
race labels cloud the thinking even when you know it's happening. He finished
just behind Blown It who has converted his promise into a win (with a rliable
trainer) and just in front of Shampagne who has run poorly in two outings
since.
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So, do you trust Mr Best to get rid of the maiden tag here? Too much watching
his highly tried horses struggle to do it and variable performances from
one run to the next leaves you wanting to support something else or leave
it alone. On the plus side Square Eddie is a strongly built type but short
in height and probably vulnerable to a rangier mover. Mr Hannon's Retro
didn't look to have developed that well from the sales when he made his
debut at Windsor last week and ran just a so-so debut but with a Hughes
'try out' ride rather than the full thing. If he's an each-way price you
can trust the trainer that he will improve to show his full potential here
and it's then a question of whether that's good enough to better wherever
Square Eddie might land in his performance range.
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The each-way alternatives perhaps rest with the Evans newcomer Scarlets
(covered below) and Meehan's expensively purchased US breeze up type Galpin
Junior. He ought to compete well in this group despite the relatively
unstressed preparation the trainer goes in for.
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At Yarmouth the Godolphin runner Global City ought to win
comfortably. He ran better than the result makes it look on debut after
getting involved in a war for the lead that left Carnaby Haggerston befuddled
and out of the race (with a stronger ride that one came back to show that
form wrong with a Nursery win over the weekend). He should improve a lot
for that and would be value to beat a much tougher group than that he faces.
He isn't going to be much of a price but he's a 'Good Favourite'.
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