Weatherbys Digital Solutions Blue Riband Trial (Listed)

Off time: 14:25 | Winning time: 2m 20.0s

(3)

Epictetus¹⁸⁵

Age: 3| Weight: 9-3| J: L Dettori| T: J & T Gosden| OR: 111

2/5

Very good at 2, winning on Newmarket debut in July before runner-up in Group 2 Autumn Stakes there (Rowley Mile) and Group 1 Futurity at Doncaster (beaten 3½ lengths by Auguste Rodin). Sets a high standard for a yard with an excellent record in this race.

Form: 122-

(2)

Hadrianus¹³⁰

Age: 3| Weight: 9-3| J: W Buick| T: C Johnston

9/1

Promising start to his career on AW at the end of 2022, second at Newcastle before going better at Kempton (11f). Definitely more to come from him.

Form: 21-

(1)

Stormbuster¹⁸⁵

Age: 3| Weight: 9-3| J: Oisin Murphy| T: A M Balding| OR: 99

10/3

Second in a 1m Salisbury listed before producing a useful effort to get off the mark in a 1m Newbury novice in September. Well behind Epictetus in Futurity at Doncaster on final start, though.

Form: 33218-

(4)

Think First¹⁹⁰

Age: 3| Weight: 9-3| J: Rossa Ryan| T: J Tate| OR: 92| D

25/1

Back-to-back novice winner at Chelmsford in August/September before finding listed company too much back on turf at Pontefract in October. Needs improvement to get heavily involved here.

Form: 5116-

(5)

Cite D'Or²⁴

Age: 3| Weight: 8-12| J: Pierre-Louis Jamin| T: Harry Eustace| OR: 100

33/1

Two wins from 6 runs in Britain last year but struggled in Dubai at the start of 2023 and fared no better in a French Group 3 24 days ago. Hard to fancy.

Form: 126-688

Non-Runners

(6)

Intricacy¹³³

Weight: 9-3| Age: 3

T: S & E Crisford J: James Doyle

Forecasts

Epictetus (2/5), Stormbuster (10/3), Intricacy (8/1), Hadrianus (9/1), Think First (25/1), Cite D'Or (33/1)

It's hard to see past EPICTETUS, who rapidly developed into a smart performer at 2 and can enhance the Gosden stable's fine record in this race. Intricacy looked good when readily accounting for some reasonable opposition at Wolverhampton in December and could be the one to give him most to think about.