16:45 Ascot

Friday 27 July 2018

All13:5014:2515:0015:3516:1016:4517:15

Neptune Investment Management Handicap

Off time: 16:45 | Winning time: 1m 1.03s

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Selected odds by:

(4)

Gracious John¹⁵

Age: 5| Weight: 9-10| J: Jim Crowley| T: P D Evans| OR: 100| D

8/1

Hard to fault a couple of his more recent efforts, including when finishing third to Muthmir in the Listed Achilles Stakes (5f, good to firm) at Haydock in June, but holds precious few secrets from the handicapper.

Form: 610353

(10)

Vibrant Chords²¹

Age: 5| Weight: 9-10| J: Fran Berry| T: H Candy| OR: 100| D

8/1

Runner-up in the 2017 Portland (Doncaster) off a 3lb lower mark, but built upon his comeback run at Chelmsford in June with a narrow (and controversial) win at Sandown (5f, good to firm) three weeks ago.

Form: 0229-61

(6)

Encore d'Or^p¹³

Age: 6| Weight: 9-10| J: R L Moore| T: R M H Cowell| OR: 100| D

9/2

Won just once in 18 starts on turf (7-16 AW), but continues to run well and closely matched with Gracious John on Listed Haydock form from June; beaten just over 2L when fourth of 20 to Spring Loaded over C&D since.

Form: 126054

(9)

Koditime^b²⁰

Age: 3| Weight: 9-5| J: A Kirby| T: C G Cox| OR: 99| D

12/1

8lb higher than when winning on his seasonal return at York in May (5f, good to firm), and that's probably plenty high enough; remains lightly raced, but found wanting more latterly in Listed and Group contests (5f, Sandown).

Form: 87-1269

(8)

Polybius¹³

Age: 7| Weight: 9-5| J: James Doyle| T: D M Simcock| OR: 95

3/1

No win since August 2015 (for David Lanigan), but ran some sound races at this track last season (5f-6f), including when finishing fourth of 27 in the Wokingham; showed more promise latest (over C&D) and remains feasibly handicapped.

Form: 5-96546

(5)

Evergate^v¹³

Age: 4| Weight: 9-3| J: G Mosse| T: R M H Cowell| OR: 93| D

12/1

Runner-up in the Gosforth Park Cup (5f AW) at Newcastle on his penultimate start, and whilst just about running exactly to form over C&D next time, looks to be held by a few of these rivals on that evidence.

Form: 720320

(1)

Blue De Vega²¹

Age: 5| Weight: 9-3| J: Oisin Murphy| T: R M H Cowell| OR: 93

12/1

Not quite at the level of his early season form of late, which included a narrow defeat at Thirsk (May), and finishing a staying on fourth of 20 in the Epsom Dash (June); handicap mark slowly easing as a result.

Form: 424906

(11)

Show Stealer^p¹⁰^{(ex 6)}

Age: 5| Weight: 9-1| J: S De Sousa| T: Rae Guest| OR: 85

13/2

On a hat-trick after back-to-back fast ground wins at Bath (5.5f Class 4); 8lb above her last winning mark and this Class 2 contest rates as a whole different ball game entirely, but at least we know she'll relish the rattling quick conditions.

Form: 857711

(12)

Golden Steps¹⁸

Age: 7| Weight: 8-6| J: Jamie Gormley⁽³⁾| T: J S Goldie| OR: 82

12/1

Stablemate of Oriental Lilly; without a win since scoring over 7f for Marco Botti in the Bunbury Cup (Newmarket) in July 2016; yet to win over less than 6f, but often a 'big-race' player and ran okay at Ayr latest (second).

Form: 536462

(7)

Venturous¹⁴

Age: 5| Weight: 8-4| J: B A Curtis| T: T D Barron| OR: 80

9/1

Not won since his juvenile days with Godolphin, but attractively handicapped and wind surgery has seemingly proved beneficial; raised 2lb since his fast-finishing second to Confessional at Chester (5.5f, good) earlier this month.

Form: 6635-02

Non-Runners

(3)

Tarboosh⁷

Weight: 9-5| Age: 5

T: P T Midgley J: L Morris

(2)

Oriental Lilly¹⁸

Weight: 8-7| Age: 4

T: J S Goldie J: Non Runner

Forecasts

Polybius (3/1), Encore d'Or (9/2), Show Stealer (13/2), Tarboosh (7/1), Gracious John (8/1), Vibrant Chords (8/1), Venturous (9/1), Blue De Vega (12/1), Evergate (12/1), Golden Steps (12/1), Koditime (12/1), Oriental Lilly (12/1)

An impossibly difficult looking sprint handicap in which many darts could be unsuccessfully fired, so it's simply a case of looking for a single runner and hoping to hit the bull. POLYBIUS is one of a number of horses in this race who find winning difficult (that list also includes Venturous), but he's feasibly handicapped from his current mark of 95 and has shown a consistent level of previous course form (finished fourth of 27 in the 2017 Wokingham; rated 101). His latest close-up C&D sixth behind Spring Loaded (when racing on the wrong side of the track) implies that his turn is near, so he gets the nod in a truly head-scratching contest.