4th-May-2019

Sergei Prokofiev sets a high standard here, he did really well to win the Group 3 Cornwallis Stakes over this course and distance last October, and he showed an impressive turn of foot to win at Navan on his debut this season.

But he is fashionable and he is short, and I think that Mabs Cross represents some value against him.

Michael Dods’ filly won this race last year, so we know that she handles the track, and she progressed as the season developed.  She was only just beaten by Alpha Delphini in the Nunthorpe, she was unlucky not to win it, but she gained compensation when she went to Longchamp and won the Prix de l’Abbaye.

She has to carry a penalty today as a result, she is conceding plenty of weight to her rivals, she has to concede 10lb to the three-year-old Sergei Prokofiev, but she gets the fillies’ allowance, and she is the top-rated horse in the race.  Also, she is lightly raced for a five-year-old sprinter, she has raced just 12 times.

She had had a run before she won this race last year, but she does go well fresh.  Her record after a break of 100 days or more reads 12, and you can be sure that her trainer has had this race as her early-season target for a while.

MABS CROSS WON (SP 6/1)