No joy on Monday. Justanotherbottle actually got out of the stalls perfectly fine for a change (unlike the favourite!) and it yielded a brilliant run. Sadly, he bumped into a very live one who was debuting on the turf and had to settle for second spot, but it was a major step in the right direction that can be built upon if they keep a lid on his stalls antics. That was the perfect race for him, however.

City Wanderer was always going to be an all-or-nothing type of bet and this time, it was absolutely nothing. I don't know what went wrong but he hung when asked to quicken up and was eased right off by James Sullivan, who reported that the horse "stopped quickly" (that he sure did!). Whether it was ground, breathing or something else, I have no idea. I'll be keeping an eye on him (and many of Carr's other runners).

-2.00pts on the day.

Dark Shot has not won anywhere near as many races as his ability should have allowed, 4-64 overall, but he has finished second on no less than thirteen occasions and three of those came over C&D, including short-head and neck defeats in the Dash! He's much lower in the weights these days but ran a few good races at Southwell over the winter and being freshened up with a few months off the track will do no harm. Hollie Doyle is obviously a good booking and they should be in with a big chance here.

Alfred Boucher may not be as classy as some of these but it's not impossible that he could improve again as a 5-year-old and he's a far simpler ride than a lot of those ahead of him in the market, which could come in handy around this quirky track. Henry Candy's charge failed to win last term but probably exceeded what I thought was his level on a couple of occasions and he's still not fully exposed at this 1m 2f trip. If he's fit enough to rock first time out, he could be set to do better than what the market is expecting.