'She should be far more at home in this grade' - key quotes and analysis for feature fillies' handicap

There are five handicap debutantes in this strong-looking fillies’ event and almost all of them are bred to be stakes performers. So, who are the trainers involved and how have they fared with such runners over the past five years?

Ed Walker saddles the only four-year-old among that group (Glimmer Of Light), while Michael Bell is responsible for Bigtime Bridget, who sports a first-time tongue-tie after struggling in the Lingfield Oaks Trial last month.

The strike-rates of those two trainers with horses of either sex making their handicap debut dips beneath 15 per cent and that falls short of the records put up by Ralph Beckett (Frankelian), Simon and Ed Crisford (Miss Bielsa) and Harry Charlton (Pratigya).

Backing all of the Crisfords’ 159 representatives would have nailed you 40 winners and a £16.60 profit to £1 stakes. For Charlton, the figures are even more impressive from a smaller sample size. He is 4-11 (36 per cent) with such types for a £6.20 level-stakes profit. While Beckett’s 19 per cent strike-rate is healthy on paper, following his 239 handicap debutants blindly would have yielded a level-stakes loss of £27.81.

Of those with experience in handicaps, the formline that concerns Elladonna and Xiomara possesses some substance. They were first and second in a similar event at Nottingham and the third, who pulled six lengths clear of the fourth, went close next time.

That was Elladonna’s fourth start in a handicap and Xiomara’s first. It is easy to imagine positions being reversed with the runner-up reopposing on 4lb better terms.
Analysis by Robbie Wilders

Going update

Course officials have continued to water to maintain the good to firm ground.

Clerk of the course Jeremy Martin said on Monday: "We're putting down 3mm of water to add to the 12mm from the second half of last week. We've not really had any rain in the last ten days and we've got good, fast ground. We've got good numbers on the card as the 88 declarations are as many as we've had since we had ten races during Covid times four years ago."

What they say

Daniel Kubler, joint-trainer of Ciara Pearl
She's been progressive and hopefully she can continue on an upward curve. She was a bit unlucky at Ascot last time as she missed the break. She'll be fine on good ground, I just wouldn't want it really quick for her.

Marcus Tregoning, trainer of Quietness
It's a step up in grade and we don't know what she'll be like on the quicker ground as we haven't had her all that long, but she's in good form and looks a picture. I'm very happy with her.

Michael Bell, trainer of Bigtime Bridget
She was out of her depth in the Lingfield Oaks Trial but these are calmer waters. She looks in good form and should be far more at home in this grade.

Jim Boyle, trainer of Meleri
She ran too free last time but she's better than that and we're hoping for an improved performance. It looks like the course has missed the rain though, and it might be that we hang fire with her as we don't want the ground that quick.

Harry Charlton, trainer of Pratigya
It's her first start on turf and it looks pretty competitive. The handicapper hasn't been that kind, putting her on a mark of 72 after her win at Wolverhampton last month. She's also drawn a bit wide [in stall 11], so we'll see how she goes and learn a bit more about her on the track.
Reporting by Andrew Dietz

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