16:50 Leicester

Monday 20 August 2018

All14:2014:5015:2015:5016:2016:50

Charles Street Handicap

Off time: 16:51 | Winning time: 1m 11.39s

(7)

Ninjago⁹

Age: 8| Weight: 9-10| J: D C Costello| T: P T Midgley| OR: 72| D

5/1

Infrequent winner (no win for 12 months), but is becoming alarmingly well handicapped and historically could deliver a telling turn of foot from off the pace; stiff track should suit and has shown increasingly more promise of late.

Form: 024384

(5)

Storm Melody^b¹⁸

Age: 5| Weight: 9-8| J: M Harley| T: J & A O'Neill| OR: 70| D

16/1

Bombed out badly at Ffos Las latest (6f good), and that's more the norm than the kind of form he showed when winning at Chepstow (6f, good to firm) immediately prior; risky despite the reappearance of blinkers.

Form: 28-0919

(6)

Rux Ruxx¹⁶

Age: 3| Weight: 9-8| J: David Probert| T: A M Balding| OR: 73| BF

6/4

Cost 230,000 gns as a juvenile, but getting her act together this season, shaping like an improving filly; nothing wrong with either of her last two 7f efforts at Lingfield (a win and a second) and no real issues with this stiff 6f either.

Form: 77-5312

(4)

Seyasah^p³¹

Age: 4| Weight: 9-6| J: T P Queally| T: C F Wall| OR: 68

12/1

Difficult to pinpoint what's held her back from showing her strongest form since winning on seasonal return at Yarmouth in May (7f, soft); quick ground shouldn't be the problem based upon her earlier three-year-old form.

Form: 84-1670

(9)

Roys Dream^p¹⁴

Age: 4| Weight: 9-6| J: Patrick Vaughan⁽⁷⁾| T: Paul Collins| OR: 68| D

9/1

Just 2lb above her last winning mark (6f, Carlisle), and generally relied upon to run a solid enough race, but the sneaking suspicion is that others are likely to prove more competitive for win purposes today.

Form: 252164

(8)

Duke Cosimo¹¹

Age: 8| Weight: 9-1| J: George Wood| T: M Herrington| OR: 63| D

14/1

Better known as an AW performer these days (2 from 17), although his overall record on turf is broadly comparable (4 from 36); no win since January (6f), and whilst racing off 4lb lower today wouldn't make masses of appeal.

Form: 050763

(2)

Agadeer^b1²¹

Age: 3| Weight: 9-1| J: P J McDonald| T: C & M Johnston| OR: 66

20/1

Back-peddled since a respectable Hamilton debut (6f) in June (third has won since), but possible she's not been suited by a longer trip (1m+); needs to bounce back to form dropped in trip with the blinkers now applied.

Form: 2530

(1)

Geoff Potts²²

Age: 5| Weight: 9-1| J: T Hamilton| T: R A Fahey| OR: 63| CD

5/1

Just one win in 20 starts on turf, but that was over C&D (off a 3lb higher mark) last summer; conditions should hold no fears and excused a moderate run at Pontefract latest (raced wide); place claims if on song.

Form: 742946

(3)

Fang^t²⁰

Age: 5| Weight: 8-13| J: J P Spencer| T: W Jarvis| OR: 61| D

22/1

Lacked any real bite since recording back-to-back 6f wins in July 2016, and despite remaining on a slippery slope down the weights looks highly unlikely to be scaling any significant heights anytime soon; undergone fairly recent wind surgery.

Form: 3/8996-8

Forecasts

Rux Ruxx (6/4), Ninjago (5/1), Geoff Potts (5/1), Roys Dream (9/1), Seyasah (12/1), Duke Cosimo (14/1), Storm Melody (16/1), Agadeer (20/1), Fang (22/1)

Rux Ruxx is an improving three-year-old filly, and to that extent she's likely to be firmly on the premises against some fairly exposed and limited handicappers. However, in NINJAGO, she meets a horse who is essentially far better than Class 5 handicaps. Despite not winning a race for over 12 months now, this stiff 6f trip should suit the run style of the Paul Midgley-trained top-weight who is strongly fancied to bounce back to winning ways.