1st-Jul-2012

Midnight Soprano sets a high standard here, she has now won her last five, she is unbeaten in four runs this season, and her Saval Beg Stakes victory over Saddler’s Rock on her latest run was the best performance of her life.

However, she may have been a little flattered by that win, third-placed Unaccompanied didn’t run her race, and it was Saddler’s Rock’s seasonal debut, after a setback, on ground that he should have hated and over a distance that was too short.

I am taking her on with Hartani. John Oxx’s colt has looked like a real galloper, a real stayer, in his latest two runs over the extended 12 furlongs at Tipperary, leading from flagfall on both occasions and keeping on really well all the way to the line. On his latest run, he kept on well to beat Montebell, who had looked like a useful sort when she won her maiden on easy ground at Cork two weeks previously.

Hartani shaped on both occasions as if he would relish an even greater test of stamina, which is hardly surprising given that he is by Shirocco out of a Darshaan mare, with lots of stamina on his dam’s side, so the step up to a mile and six furlongs should bring about further improvement. He is progressive anyway, he has run just three times in his life and he has improved significantly in each of his last two outings. He will have to put up another career-best if he is to win today, but it is easy to see him do that.

Father Of Science is also a danger, the half-brother to High Chaparral handled soft ground well when he won his maiden at Chester in May, and the third filly from that race won her maiden at Haydock subsequently. However, this is a significant step up in distance and in grade, and it is a bit of a worry that we haven’t seen him since. There were plenty of races for him in May and June. The bookmakers seem to have erred on the side of caution with him in putting him in at no bigger than 9/2.

The ground is surely going to be too soft for both Sense Of Purpose and Steps To Freedom, while first-time blinkers will have to bring about considerable improvement in Offer – whom Hartani beat with a lot more in hand than the half-length winning margin at Tipperary in May – if he is to get involved.

HARTANI WON (ADV 4/1 [R4], SP 5/2)