Can Lord Paramount land the odds against experienced rivals?

Saturday: 2.40 Chelmsford
Betfred Play Fred's 5 Million Handicap | Class 5 | 7f | 3yo+ | ITV4/RTV

Stuart Williams' lean 2022 has belatedly started to right itself since the beginning of the all-weather season.

Between the last meeting of the turf season on November 5 and the end of afternoon racing on Friday, Williams sent out 32 runners and nine of them won. That is the more winners than he trained between June 29 and November 5.

There are indications that Got No Dollars might be about to contribute to his trainer's resurgence. Since returning from a midsummer absence, he has gone off at big prices on all three starts but has shown promise from wide draws on the all-weather on his last two runs.

He is a dual course winner and the best run of his career was a second over this course and distance. The draw has been kinder here as he will break from stall five and warrants serious interest in this 0-70.

The big stumbling block appears to be the Roger Varian-trained Lord Paramount. He has been left on a mark of 70 for winning comfortably at Wolverhampton 12 days ago, which is not exactly a rick as he had better form in earlier novices. It does not allow for his unexposed profile and he is potentially a cut above this grade.

Those opposing him will take heart from him having been beaten twice at cramped odds already in his career.

It is understandable why Lord Paramount is short again, as his rivals are all established types with a double-digit number of runs behind them. That said, course form is hardly plentiful.

The field has 19 runs at Chelmsford between them, yielding three wins. Mawkeb, who wears a visor on his return from eight months off, is one from one here. The other two course wins both came from the well-treated and well-drawn Got No Dollars.
Race analysis by Keith Melrose

Paramount team confident of following up

Last week's Wolverhampton winner Lord Paramount gets to race off an unchanged mark on his handicap debut and connections believe he has "every chance" of going in again.

The Roger Varian-trained three-year-old, who races in the colours of John Deer, got off the mark at the fourth attempt 12 days ago when showing a decent turn of foot to score comfortably in a 7f novice contest.

His rating of 70 has been left unchanged, which allows him to run in a race with a ratings band of 0-70.

Davild Hilton: hoping for a big run from Lord ParamountCredit: Laura Green

David Hilton, Deer's stud manager at Oakgrove Stud, said: "He's obviously got every chance. If the race is run a similar way to last time with a good pace, he can sit behind it and hopefully travel. He tends to quicken up quite well and put the race to bed.

"We were very surprised he didn't go up for winning as he did it quite easily. A lot of his rivals have more experience but hopefully we're on a more upward curve with him."

What they say

Mick Appleby, trainer of Mawkeb
He's been off a while and will probably just need the run. He's been working well and has won at the track before, so everything is fine for him. We're putting the visor on and it should suit him as he's a bit lazy.

Stuart Williams, trainer of Got No Dollars
He's in good form and the trip is fine for him. Obviously, Roger Varian's horse [Lord Paramount] looks like he's got in fairly lightly with 70 based on last week's run. He's an honest horse and he'll do his best. He's back to a mark where he's capable of winning if everything went right for him.

Mark Loughnane, trainer of First Company
He's been a bit disappointing since he's come to us and we're trying seven furlongs for the first time. He was running over five furlongs for his last trainer but he doesn't show me that boot at home, so we're hoping seven furlongs brings out improvement as he's tumbling down the weight. We're hopeful rather than confident.
Reporting by Andrew Dietz

Saturday previews:

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