barracuda7

Secrest Guest Mark has steadily been falling and comes here race-fit. His recent runs, on the face of it, have looked very poor, but he had excuses. Last time out he had a very slow start, and it was a race where nothing from off the pace made any impact. He wasn't given a hard ride. The time before, over 5f at Newcastle, he was squeezed up, losing all chance. Twice before that he was running over 7f. Back over 6f today, which seems to be his trip, he may go well. Interestingly, he's been well supported early despite not being the most obvious, but he remains an OK price at 9/1.

I would suspect this is Al Qareem's main target, or at least for the first half of the season. With a close second in it last year and it being nearly twice as valuable as the other early Group 3s he competed in and won last season, he has race fitness on his side, beating Mount Atlas last time out. He has a great record at the track, and although more talented, the Aidan O'Brien runners are coming here without a run. At the prices, if all goes well I can't see Al Qareem being too far away, so a ew bet looks the way to go.