More to come from Kentford Grey Lady
Kentford Grey Lady deservedly tops the weights and Emma Lavelle’s six-year-old ran another cracking race when finishing second behind Quevega at the Cheltenham Festival.
She’s a tremendously consistent lady, who has had a busy season but I firmly believe there’s plenty more to come from her.
She was a winner here at Newbury back in November and then followed up at Kempton a month later, before running up behind Violin Davis.
I’m absolutely convinced that the only reason she was beaten that day was the lack of early pace in the race. She likes to be held up off a strong pace and when she gets that, she should prove better than her current mark.
But the pace is a concern again today. Despite there being 17 runners in the race, I can’t find a guaranteed pacemaker. That she carries top weight isn’t a real issue. She has the class to cope with it and if Withy Hills consents to set a strong gallop, Kentford Grey Lady will be very hard to beat.
Lady Kathleen, Florafern and Cross The Flags make varying degrees of appeal at bigger prices and should provide the principal dangers
The race I’m most looking forward to seeing this afternoon is the bumper (4.50) at Newbury, where exciting prospect Utopian bids to maintain his unbeaten record.
He was a winner of a bumper in France, where he beat the now Willie Mullins-trained Ut De Sivola, and made a similarly positive start to his British career for trainer Nick Gifford when winning at Fontwell late last month.
He’s taking quite a significant drop in trip today and has to give weight to all his rivals, but such was the class he showed last time, he could well be up to the task.
