The 2nd race at 6:15 looks more promising. This is a 3-year-old handicap over the 6-furlong trip and although he does have 10-0 to shoulder, I do like the chances of the top weight, Miraculous. He was a winner on debut at Newcastle in January, so there are no concerns about him handling the track and after an impressive win at Chester, he arrives here in peak form. Sat behind the leaders in a race run with a finishing speed of 97%, he found plenty for pressure to get the better of Veydari in the Chester straight, finishing with furlongs of 11.85 and 11.87s to win by a length and a quarter. At a peak average of 2.58 strides per second, he had the highest stride frequency figure in the field and that turn-of-foot should help Jack Mitchell to get him into a prominent position from stall 5. A mark of 87 isn’t a gift, but he has won 2 of his 6 starts and looks open to plenty of improvement still. There don’t appear to be too many obviously well handicapped 3-year-olds in this race and he should get a decent tow into the contest from the likes of Iconic Times and Good Banter who are drawn around him. Carrying such a big weight is never easy, but I think that Miraculous has the size to do so and he is certainly the classiest horse in the field. He has a good draw and his yard are in decent form, so he seems to be a fairly safe each-way bet to start the night with as it seems unlikely that there are 3 better than him and he should get The East team into the points.

I couldn’t find an angle into the stayers contest at 6:45, where the presence of the Irish trained runners made it hard to equate the form, but I do like the chances of Queen’s Guard for Team Scotland in the 7:15. She was making her first start for Iain Jardine when finishing 4th at York in June. That was her first start since November and it is good to see that she has had a 6-week break to get over those exertions, but there was a lot of promise shown in a race where she ran sub 11-second furlongs for 3 consecutive splits in the middle part of the contest. Sitting behind the pace, she traveled strongly and looked to be coming with a winning run when pulled out for a challenge at the furlong pole. She didn’t quite get home, but that is perhaps understandable given the absence of 209 days leading into the race. Her penultimate furlong of 11.29s ranked 2nd of the 13 runners and suggested that she is well treated on her current mark. Although she is yet to encounter the tapeta, she has won twice on the polytrack during her time with Michael Bell. Fleetwater is an obvious danger from stall 1 after she finished 2nd in the Listed Eternal Stakes at Carlisle last time and if she can confirm that form, then a mark of 89 may look very generous. However, she was ridden to obtain a good finishing position on that occasion and will need to be much sharper from the gate to get the right position here. Queen’s Guard has proven handicap form and if taking a step forward, she should be able to travel behind the pace and challenge as the field heads into the straight.

There is a case to be made for Double Parked in the 3-year-old handicap at 7:45. He showed a great attitude to get his head in front at Catterick after making most of the running. He looks to be one of the better chances on the night for Team Yorkshire, but there’s so much early pace in this race that it looks to be too risky. Hyperchromatic, Palio di Siena, Dream Angel and Saxonia all ranked in the top 3 for their opening furlongs on their latest starts and there looks certain to be an early battle for the lead which may leave Tim Easterby’s charge vulnerable.