Balding wants rain for Turbo-charged finale
There would be no more popular victor in the Enter The £1 Million totetentofollow November Handicap than the five-year-old, and not only as a fitting send-off for his remarkable handler.
The gelding is also bidding for back-to-back victories in the race and has been well backed.
Tony Clark orchestrated a superb last-to-first ride last year and Balding, who is handing over the yard to his son-in-law Jonathan Geake, reports the horse to be in good order to repeat the trick under today's rider Steve Carson.
"He's an autumn horse, he comes good at this time of year and he's in screamingly good form," said Balding.
"He hasn't got a good draw (20) on paper but as he has got to be dropped in and likes to come wide, it's probably not a disaster.
"My main worry is the ground. He's a soft-ground horse but he's not a sticky ground horse, and if it continued to dry and got a bit tacky that wouldn't be to his advantage.
"I'm hoping it's going to rain for a couple of hours tomorrow morning."
It is a big day for Brian Ellison, too, as he saddles two of the leading fancies, Artistic Style and Carte Diamond, in the mile-and-a-half event.
The former, a four-year-old, has been a remarkable performer this season, having scored in a seller at Musselburgh in July and then rattling off four more victories, a second and a third from his next six outings over distances from a mile to a mile and a half.
Artistic Style's most recent outing was when demolishing the field by nine lengths in a soft-ground handicap at Ayr last month, which raised his mark by 15lb and made him top weight for the £50,000 race.
"He is in great form he seems very well," said Ellison.
"He has a lot of class and has run over all sorts of distances without a problem.
"But he has gone up 32lb this season and he has a lot to do off top weight - but it is the end of the season and you have to have a go."
