17:15 Ascot

Friday 27 July 2018

All13:5014:2515:0015:3516:1016:4517:15

Chelsea Thoroughbreds October Club Charity Fillies' Handicap

Off time: 17:15 | Winning time: 59.51s

(2)

Queen In Waiting^b1⁶⁸

Age: 4| Weight: 9-12| J: B A Curtis| T: T D Barron| OR: 84| D

20/1

Best suited by artificial surfaces (2 from 3), and yet to pick up the baton for this trainer after leaving Mark Johnston for 55,000gns in November 2017; feasibly needed the run at Ripon latest (6f); blinkers applied as mark eases.

Form: 5880-69

(5)

Island Of Life^t³⁴

Age: 4| Weight: 9-7| J: James Doyle| T: W J Haggas| OR: 79| BF| D

7/4

Slow to come to hand, but justified market support when winning at Sandown in June (5f, good to firm), unlucky latest when blowing her chance at the start (still ran very well); raised a further 4lb (8lb above winning mark).

Form: 33-4313

(4)

Awesome⁴⁶

Age: 3| Weight: 9-6| J: A Kirby| T: C G Cox| OR: 82| BF| D

11/2

Front-runner who landed a pair of juvenile novice contests at Chepstow and York last back-end (5f-5.5f), and has returned in decent shape this season off an elevated mark, beaten just ¾L by subsequent AW winner Lord Riddiford at Windsor in June.

Form: 2411-32

(7)

Ocelot²¹

Age: 4| Weight: 9-5| J: Jim Crowley| T: R M H Cowell| OR: 77| D

14/1

Three wins in Class 4-6 handicaps last summer, the latest of which was at Sandown in July 2017 (5f); still 5lb above that winning mark, but found only Mythical Spirit too good (caught close home) at Doncaster three weeks ago.

Form: 684-442

(1)

Lady Dancealot⁷

Age: 3| Weight: 9-2| J: S De Sousa| T: D R C Elsworth| OR: 78

7/2

Won just once in nine starts (6f, soft), but has broadly ran well this season from her current handicap mark, including when finishing a respectable third at Newmarket (6f) latest; seeks a fraction more on just her second start over 5f.

Form: 41-3253

(6)

Seprani^h¹⁵

Age: 4| Weight: 9-2| J: Gabriele Malune⁽⁵⁾| T: M Botti| OR: 74

16/1

Closely matched with Ocelot on recent 5f Doncaster form, and upped a further 2lb for a similar effort at Epsom since (6f); requires a strongly run race over this trip, and fits the profile of that all too often fast-finishing, irregular winner.

Form: 266332

(9)

Procedure¹⁰

Age: 3| Weight: 8-10| J: R Kingscote| T: Sir Michael Stoute| OR: 72

4/1

Climbing back up the weights following her July Leicester win (6f, good to firm), but that form has been franked by the runner-up since; caught close home in a stronger race at Bath (5.5f) since; respected.

Form: 4-06312

(3)

Coto²²

Age: 6| Weight: 8-7| J: Andrew Slattery⁽⁷⁾| T: M J Tynan| OR: 63| D

20/1

Irish mare who returned to racing in November 2017 (after foaling); finished third in this race in 2016 from a 12lb higher mark, and has gradually been working her way back to form; runner-up after a slow start at Bellewstown latest (5f).

Form: 00-4642

Non-Runners

(8)

Charming Guest¹³

Weight: 9-0| Age: 3

T: M R Channon J: W Buick

Forecasts

Island Of Life (7/4), Lady Dancealot (7/2), Procedure (4/1), Awesome (11/2), Charming Guest (8/1), Ocelot (14/1), Seprani (16/1), Queen In Waiting (20/1), Coto (20/1)

An interesting finale in which the consistent front-runner Awesome and the free-racing Procedure could set this up for a fast-finisher, so there are a number of possible candidates on which to focus. The most obvious is Island Of Life who blew her winning chance at the start at Haydock, but she's a further 4lb higher in the weights today, whilst Seprani has that worrying feel of an always 'unlucky' loser. At a likely tasty price, COTO should shape well. She was a regular Newcastle AW winner in 2016 (prior to foaling), she's caught the eye on each racecourse appearance since May and is very handily weighted with the 7lb claim of Andrew Slattery a plus.