The draw on Thursday looked to favour those drawn middle to high and in the Class 2 Handicap at 2.45 one of the best drawn appears to be Victoire De Lyphar who I have had in mind for this race all week and he is drawn 19 of 28. He was probably Nicholls best hope for the Stewards Cup and he obviously thought he would have made the cut otherwise he would have run him again to make sure he got in, but he didnt and he's not. The stable had a winner in the handicap yesterday and it wouldnt be the biggest suprise to see him come home in front and go on to better things after having won the competitive Reg Griffin at York. However this is a very competitive race too and there are several in here that we have looked at over the weeks gone by and I wouldnt put anyone off having their own fancy.
The 5.45 Class 3 Turf Club Handicap over 5f for 3yo has 16 runners and Little Garcon, although running over this sharp 5f, would appear to be well handicapped on his run behind Bated Breath over 6f at Haydock as he is still only on a mark of 88, whereas the winner of that has been entered for Group 1 Haydock Sprint Cup in September. The only problem would be the distance as he was running on there and this may be too short for him, although he has the assistance of Martin Dwyer who I think rides this course well.
Another who could go well is Skylla on his 3rd run for Fahey, his first run back was a good one against his elders in the Gosforth Park Cup when he was only 1 1/2 lengths behind the winner Captain Dunne who finished in front of Borderlescott at Chester. If he was to run to that level again over this fast 5f then he could go close.
I have nothing against women jockeys but Amy Ryan might not have enough experience for this race on Perfect Blossom, however it wouldnt be the first time Ive been proved wrong.
I will hopefully be able to post something about the Stewards Cup on Saturday, however I will be on my holidays from Saturday so you may have to look back at my previous blog posts on the race which have covered all the main contenders.