Martin Dixon of the Horse Watchers is expecting Penzance to launch a bold bid at Newcastle on Friday.
Penzance - 15:13 Newcastle, Friday
We think Penzance probably would have won at Chelmsford but for the stalls issue [which led to a void race] and he's been showing all the signs of being in very good form.
Drama in the finale - it's a void race at Chelmsford with the the tractor unable to remove the starting stalls from the track pic.twitter.com/dag0oKcet5
— Racing TV (@RacingTV) November 9, 2024
He's put up two big performances at Newcastle before, winning on New Year's Day and finishing runner-up on AW Finals Day, and seems to be a bit happier on left-handed tracks rather than the other way around at Kempton where he was third last month. This looks the optimum race for him. He did his final bit of work on Wednesday morning in preparation, and he he worked very well.
I think he goes there with as good a chance as anything in the race. The way that he's working, the way he was shaping at Chelmsford and the record he's produced at Newcastle would suggest he should be ready to put up close to his best ever performance. Everything is primed for a big run.
Royal Zabeel is one to follow
Royal Zabeel ran an encouraging race when runner-up at Newcastle on his debut for us, so we were really pleased with that. He was just a bit fresh for the first quarter of a mile and he didn't drop his head, and that probably made all the difference at the end. When he came through to try and get past the winner he could never quite get by, and then Ali [Rawlinson] felt like he had a bit of a blow in the final 150 yards.
That was a very good start and given the way he shaped, and the feedback that he'd benefit a bit from the outing, you'd like to think there'll be a jolt of improvement. He'll be a horse to keep following for the next six months - he'll hopefully have a nice race in him.
There's a race at Southwell on 14th December, a seven-furlong class 3 handicap. He'll have an entry for that and it's the likeliest next step.
Symbol of Light is probably going to run at Chelmsford next Thursday. We're looking forward to getting him started and Julie [Camacho] and Steve [Brown] seem to be happy with his preparation. He's due to do his final piece of work this week and hopefully he'll be ready to run a good race.
He's got a very good all-weather record, which is what interested us, and he's well handicapped on the pick of his form from last winter, some of which is really strong.
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