8th-Sept-2018

I am happy to be against Harry Angel here.  He could blow them away, as he did in this race last year, but he didn’t have a good experience at Ascot last time at the stalls, and that is a worry.  He is very short.  Also, a little bizarrely, no horse has won back-to-back renewals of this race since Be Friendly won the first and second runnings in 1966 and 1967.

I am taking him on with The Tin Man.  I have had this race in mind for James Fanshawe’s horse for a little while, as the trainer probably has too.  He hasn’t had a lot of luck in some of his recent races.  He was squeezed out of it early on in this race last year, and he had to begin his run from further back than ideal.  He did well to finish third.

On his penultimate run, in the Diamond Jubilee at Royal Ascot, he was squeezed out of it a bit at the two-furlong marker, he had to stop and switch, and he again finished off his race well on the near side to take fourth place, just over a length behind the winner.

Then last time, in the Prix Maurice de Gheest, he was drawn three in a race in which it was probably a significant advantage to race towards the centre of the track.  He did move over that way late on, but his low draw was still probably a big disadvantage, and he did well to finish third.  The other six horses who, with him, filled the first seven places were drawn, respectively, 13, 20, 17, 11, 19 and 18.

He has run just twice at Haydock, in this race twice, and he has finished second and third, on soft ground on both occasions.  And Oisin Murphy is riding with a lot of confidence these days.  There are lots of positives.

THE TIN MAN WON (ADV 8/1, SP 7/1)