The flat racing season is now in full swing, and we have two selections for a mouth-watering handicap in the shape of the Victoria Cup at Ascot on Saturday afternoon.
The draw has not thrown up an obvious pace-line with there being front-runners all over the track, so they may largely come up the middle to stands side with Zhui Feng, a previous course winner drawn in stall 11 a likely early leader.
The race is littered with a number of potentially well-treated unexposed horses with the likes of Louie de Palma, Sabador and Pouvoir Magique, but one that could be ahead of his mark is the mightily progressive KEYSER SOZE who has the advantage of having already had a run this season.
Jamie Spencer is a master over the straight course at Ascot, and looks to be the perfect match for Keyser Soze as he goes in search of his third win at this distance.
He ran an incredible race from stall one in a twenty-two runner handicap at Newbury in the Spring Cup last month coming from last to lead inside the final 150yds, only to be pegged back by a decent handicapper in Taqdeer and the form of that race has worked out well.
Fastnet Tempest won this in 2017 after a similar performance in that same race at Newbury and history could repeat itself.
That was Keyser Soze’s best performance to date, and with further improvement likely he could be extremely well-in off just a 3lb higher mark of 96 with the return to a quicker surface sure to aid this strong finishing gelding.
Kynren ran an absolute belter in the Spring Mile at Donny, finishing third behind High Acclaim and the handicapper may have been extremely lenient by leaving his mark on 93. But his draw in stall two is very off-putting and he may be better with a bit of cut in the ground.
SILENT ATTACK may have been raised 7lbs for his victory at Lingfield last month, but that was his first start in 427 days and he looked better than ever with that performance.
Silvestre De Sousa has been booked for Godolphin, and they won this race with Flash Fire a few years back and Silent Attack must have a big shout on his return to the turf.
The draw has tended to favour the higher numbers in recent years and with our other selection drawn on the low side, Silent Attack looks one of the more likely on the stands side in stall 19.
This son of Dream Ahead remains quite lightly raced in the UK having done most of his recent racing internationally, and seemed to be in very good form on his comeback run. At 10/1, Silent Attack remains a decent each-way price and is sure to go close.
1pt each-way Keyser Soze @7/1, 16:00 Ascot, Saturday (1,2,3,4,5 places, 1/4 odds Betfred)
0.75pts each-way Silent Attack @10/1,16:00 Ascot, Saturday (1,2,3,4,5,6 places, 1/5 odds Coral)