Tony McFadden provides an overview of the key things to note on Saturday.
Bow Echo can shade battle of big improvers
The market for the Ascendant Stakes (13:50) at Haydock is dominated by Publish and Bow Echo, perhaps unsurprisingly given both are exciting prospects who have the Timeform Large P to denote they are deemed capable of much better form.
Publish showed a good attitude to beat Catullus - a promising sort in his own right - at Sandown last month, building on the abundance of promise he displayed when an unlucky second on debut at the same course. We're still just scratching the surface of his ability but he looks likely to make his mark in Group races sooner rather than later.
Bow Echo also looked like a pattern-race performer in the making when slamming his rivals by four and a half lengths on his debut at Newbury last month. The way he put the race to bed in a couple of strides was especially impressive and he can come out on top in the battle of the big improvers.
Better to come from Binhareer as a sprinter
Binhareer is from a sprinting family and showed plenty of pace before fading into seventh in a seven-furlong handicap at Kempton on his reappearance, so it was little surprise to see him drop in trip for his next outing. That drop to sprinting duly made a big difference as Binhareer showed much-improved form to bolt up in a six-furlong handicap at Ayr, scoring by three and a quarter lengths in a race that has worked out well (the third and fourth both won next time).
Binhareer was unable to follow up at Newmarket last month, but he did confirm the improvement he had shown at Ayr and was unlucky to bump into another lightly raced and progressive sprinter.
Binhareer retains the potential to do even better after only two starts at sprint trips and that scope for improvement is highlighted by the Timeform 'small p'. There are some other fairly unexposed three-year-olds in the six-furlong handicap at Ascot (16:25) but Binhareer is the only one with a 'small p' and has the most untapped potential.
Woolhampton capable of adding to last year's win
Woolhampton had been unsuccessful on her first nine starts of the season but finally capitalised on a falling mark at Sandown last week, landing a gamble in the process.
That race was less competitive than had seemed likely due to a host of non-runners caused by the deteriorating going, but Woolhampton's last win had come on heavy ground and she relished the testing conditions. It wasn't all plain sailing for her backers as she was slowly into stride and outpaced in last with a couple of furlongs to go, but she responded to hit the front inside the final half-furlong and, so strongly did she finish, ultimately crossed the line two and three-quarter lengths clear.
That decisive victory earned Woolhampton a 7 lb rise in the weights, but she is only 2 lb higher than when winning this five-furlong handicap (16:55) at Ascot 12 months ago. She looks likely to give another good account for her in-form trainer Rod Millman who has had 7 winners from 23 runners in the last fortnight, while another four have finished runner-up.
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