Tony McFadden provides an overview of the key things to note on Thursday.
Cox has impressive strike rate at Bath
Bath has been a happy hunting ground for Clive Cox who has had more winners there than at any other turf course since the start of 2020. Cox's 31 winners at Bath have come at an impressive strike rate of 25.8%, which compares extremely well to his overall strike rate of 13.7% in that period, and backing each of those runners to £1 level stakes would have generated a profit of £47.30.
Cox's sole representative at the course on Thursday is Thisonesforyou in the opening mile nursery (12:55). Thisonesforyou made no impact in six-furlong maidens but showed much-improved form to make a successful nursery debut over a mile at Leicester a couple of weeks ago.
Delivered to hit the front entering the final furlong, Thisonesforyou always looked to be finding enough in the lead and scored by three-quarters of a length with the runner-up two and three-quarter lengths clear of the third. He still looks fairly treated following a 6 lb rise in the weights, particularly given he remains unexposed at a mile, so is taken to enhance Cox's excellent course record.
Albus Anne bids to enhance superb course record
Albus Anne is a six-year-old, but she proved better than ever by Timeform's reckoning when decisively landing a mile handicap here last month, enhancing her excellent course record in the process.
That was Albus Anne's fourth win at Bath from only seven starts, while she's also finished placed on two of her other visits. In stark contrast, she has yet to win from 21 outings at other venues.
In addition to being extremely reliable at Bath, Albus Anne also goes especially well on testing ground and has registered three of her wins on going described as soft by Timeform.
Albus Anne, therefore, looks to have plenty in her favour in the mile-and-a-quarter handicap (13:55) at Bath on Thursday. Admittedly, her four course wins have all been achieved at a mile, but she has run creditably elsewhere at a mile and a quarter so stamina should not be an issue. She also has a career-high mark to contend with but looks well worth her rating on the back of her best effort yet on Timeform's figures.
Equion can take advantage of steep drop in grade
The valuable Grassroots Series Mile Final at Nottingham four weeks ago had only two horses rated within 12 lb of the ceiling rating of 90, so it was possibly a weaker race than you might expect for a class 2 handicap. However, it still represented a much stiffer task than the one Equion faces in the class 6 mile handicap (14:25) at Bath on Thursday.
Equion was up against it at Nottingham, running from 2 lb out of the weights against higher-calibre opponents, but he produced his best effort of the campaign to be beaten little more than three lengths in fourth.
Now heading the weights down markedly in grade, Equion runs off 2 lb lower than at Nottingham and is 4 lb below his last winning mark. He'll also have conditions in his favour at Bath as his three wins on turf have come on ground considered heavy by Timeform. He looks to have been found a nice opportunity down markedly in grade, and he heads Timeform's weight-adjusted ratings by 2 lb.
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