David Ord takes a look at the six-day entries for the Jenningsbet Northumberland Plate and a 33/1 chance catches his eye.
The Jenningsbet Northumberland Plate is always a keen betting heat.
Saturday's renewal will be no different. A maximum field is assured and some big name stables represented.
William Haggas is responsible for the top-weight Roberto Escobar, ante-post favourite Post Impressionist as well as Nathanael Greene.
Michael Bell's recent Newmarket winner Adjuvant and Golden Rules, a winner on his first start for Deborah Faulkner, are both in form and prominent in the market along with Omniscient (Sir Mark Prescott), Law Of The Sea (Ian Williams) and All-Weather Marathon winner Rainbow Dreamer (Alan King).
Then there's the Hugo Palmer pair of Zoffee and Rajinsky, second and fifth in the Chester Cup before the former finished sixth in the Ascot Stakes last week.
But the one horse who looks to be sailing under-the-radar at the moment is 33/1 chance Vino Victrix.
Now there's a leap of faith required here. He's run twice this season and finished eighth of ten at Newbury and 11th of 16 in the Chester Cup. But both were run on very deep ground on which he is unproven - and he did step forward from the first run to the second.
He's been dropped two pounds for the Roodee effort which means he's now only one pound higher than when chasing home handicap snip Run For Oscar in the Cesarewitch last season.
Hughie Morrison's charge wouldn't have beaten the winner that day - obviously - but would have been further clear of the third but for having to delay his run because of traffic problems.
He was under a penalty there for a win at Goodwood in August and has built up a strong profile on artificial surfaces at Lingfield and Kempton through his career so far.
Guaranteed a spot in the final field, it's easy to make a case for him from a handicapping perspective and this year's race doesn't include many runners with obvious scope for improvement, the previously mentioned Omiscent the only one with a Timeform 'p' attached to his rating going into the race.
Vino Victrix is proven in this high-end staying handicaps, will be ready to roll with two runs under his belt and could easily bounce back away from the heavy ground that he's faced on those two outings. 33/1 looks big about him doing so.
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