Winning Post - 1800m: This is usually the wettest part of the track at this time of year and that is the case at the moment. Only the 2500m race will go through this section under race conditions but you'll probably notice the kick-back. It's a genuine heavy.
1800-1200m: Thought the back straight was in pretty good shape and it walked in the Soft 7 range. There's very little marking to speak of and I couldn't find any lanes of significance. They should race through here without concern.
1200m-800m: Feels in the '8' range to me in this section and I thought there was less resistance to the stick against the fence. Any additional rain will probably mean riders will track away from lane 1 in this section.
800m-400m: Similar to the previous section, I thought hard up on the fence was inferior here. Won't surprise me if they edge off the fence early in the day and focus on lanes 3 to 8 in this section. Later in the card it might even up if they overdo it early. Walked in the '8' range.
400m-Winning Post: As if often the case, I thought the last 200m wasn't too bad against the fence. Certainly not as inferior as I think it is in the previous section. It's slightly firmer in the straight than down the Park Terrace side of the course, I thought it walked a genuine '7'. Expecting to see plenty of winners in the middle lanes.
Verdict: First meeting back on the outer track for a month but recent rain has had an impact. I thought the track walked a Heavy 8 in the wettest part. There's only minor rain forecast but it won't take much to keep it in that range, any more significant falls could push it towards a '9'. I felt that from the 800m mark you might see the riders edge off the rail in search of better ground. I wasn't convinced that lane 1 from the 1000m mark was any spoil. As we've seen in the last fortnight, the track pattern changes throughout the day as they mark the track but at least early I think off the fence might be superior. Predicting to see them use plenty of the straight across the day and I'd rather penalise horses drawn inside gates that those drawn wide.
Michael Hickmott Bloodstock, F M C HORSE SYNDICATE, Amorini Racing, Mayford Park 4, Dascomarles, PUNT AND A PINT RACING, Ms N Rantanen Reynolds, Mr P B Dobson, Mr P V Grix, Fighting Whytes, Mr JD Gerschwitz, L Hounslow, S Aboud, Portrush(A Brandwood)
G Baker, Mrs J Baker, Ms S Baker, H Baker, R Bell, M Bourjaili, E Cameron, M Fu, A Murphy, J Murphy, D Ramus, A Smirnis, A Taylor, Miss J Wishart, Miss A Grozos & Like Ox (Mgr: J Matthews)
