9th-Jul-2020

Lord Campari was impressive in winning a novice stakes at Newbury on his seasonal debut. That was just his second run, he finished sixth in Palace Pier’s maiden at Sandown last year on his racecourse debut, and he is a very interesting horse, but he has been put in very short here against horses who have much better form than he has. He may well win but he is a fair bit shorter than he should be in my book.

I am taking him on with Al Suhail. The Godolphin colt progressed with every run last season. He won a poor novice stakes at York last August, then finished a close-up third in the Group 3 Solario Stakes at Sandown, finishing just a length behind Guineas winner Kameko, before running Military March to a half a length in the Group 3 Autumn Stakes at Newmarket, just getting out-stayed by his fellow Godolphin colt close home on the soft ground. Military March would probably have been among the favourites for Saturday’s Epsom Derby had injury not ruled him out.

You have to forgive Al Suhail a poor run in the Guineas on his debut this season, but you easily can. He was free and keen and he raced towards the far side, which was probably a significant disadvantage in the race on the day.

He is a little bit of a leap of faith. You have to trust that he has trained on from two to three, but he should be better for his seasonal debut, he shouldn’t be as keen today as he was in the Guineas. A mile should be a good trip for him now as a three-year-old, he goes well on soft ground and he finished second in a maiden on his racecourse debut on his only run on the July Course.

AL SUHAIL WON (ADV 7/2, SP 5/2)