Only two career runs, the better of them a rated 49 fourth at A7 back in late May, so he's both unexposed and coming off a seven-week absence. The clock says he's not hopeless — 29.60 on debut form is respectable — but he's drawn in the worst box on the track for this grade, a trap that has produced one winner from every twelve runs. First-time improvers from bad draws are a tough combination to back; watching brief.

Owns the fastest career clocking in the race — 29.35, two lengths quicker than the pick's best — and that alone keeps him interesting. The rest is less convincing: four runs over course and distance without troubling the judge, an up-and-down form line that peaked at 54 last time when fifth, and a draw in trap 4 that wins only 13% at this grade. If he ever puts a clean race together at his best pace he wins this, but he's yet to show he can do it in traffic.

Arrives in decent heart, having finished second at A6 last time with a rating of 57 — her best in months and a clear step forward from the 33 she posted three runs back. The problem is geography: trap 5 has won fewer than one in ten of these, and her speed figure of 44 ranks near the bottom of the field, so she'd need both a career-best and a pile-up in front of her. Stepping up from A6 to A5 at the same time makes the task stiffer still.

The form is going the wrong way — ratings of 61 and 53 five and six runs back have given way to 38 and 31 in his last two, both well-beaten efforts at this grade. He has a sharp 29.40 career best and nine runs of course-and-distance experience, so the ability is in there somewhere, and trap 6 is a fair box at this grade at 18%. But nine attempts here without a win and the slowest speed figure in the field make him hard to recommend on anything but hope.