St Nic is there to be shot at, and Xtension looks each-way value
Dropped out the back in a modestly run race on good to soft ground, he picked up like a five-furlong sprinter as he scythed through the field to earn a massively impressive success over Elusive Pimpernel and Al Zir. An excuse has been offered up for the defeat of the runner-up but it’s hard to deny that the winner emerged from the race looking like a vastly superior animal.
What Elusive Pimpernel may have in his favour now is that he handles the famous Newmarket dip, excels on the climb to the line and is race-fit. Nevertheless, his recent Craven victory, impressive as it ultimately was, showed once more that he can get tapped for toe mid-race. It happened last term and is likely to continue while he races at distances up to a mile. The victory did, at least, give a clear indication that he’s improved from last season but it’s also tempting, and feasible, to take the form as further enhancement of the claims of St Nicholas Abbey.
