Lingfield 14:25
Lingfield hosts a good looking card at the all-weather track today, with some nice handicaps and two Listed races for fillies.
This is a Listed race over one mile and furlongs furlongs with a strong line-up.
The Ralph Beckett trained Melodic Motion is the highest rated in the field, with a mark of 102. She is also just a three-year-old so will get a weight allowance from her elders. She has been in good form this summer with three wins, a second and a third. She was second in a Group 2 over 15 furlongs last time out, which was an excellent performance. That distance appeared to stretch her stamina to the full, therefore, a drop back down to 13 furlongs and into Listed company should make her extremely difficult to beat. She has only had the one race on the artificial surfaces in her career, where she finished sixth of nine over a mile on her debut at Kempton. She acts on a variety of going on the turf, but it is still taking a slight step into the relatively unknown on this surface today.
Dance The Dream, trained by Marcus Tregoning, was a winner last time out over a mile and a half at Leciester, in what was a very strong handicap. She was third in a Listed contest at Goodwood in May, where the firmer ground probably wasn't too her liking, so the step back up to Listed class here today looks the logical step and she can be competitive. Tregoning has a great record here at Lingfield and also has a decent strike rate with his stayers.
Daphne, from the powerful William Haggas yard, was fourth in a Listed race at Yarmouth last time out and is another who is no stranger to good company. 14 furlongs looked a bit of a struggle there in that class, so the drop back in a trip today by a furlong will likely help. Haggas appears to enjoy sending his horses to Lingfield, as he has close to a 50% strike rate around here over the past year, which is incredible going. He also does particularly well with his staying runners, so it wouldn't be a surprise to see Daphne involved at the business end of proceedings in this one.
Fire Jet was another last time out winner, taking a reasonable handicap at Nottingham over 14 furlongs. This is quite a step up in class from that 0-95 handicap, but this four-year-old appears in good heart and has a lot of stamina, therefore, if she can keep with the early pace she will be one of the stronger horses inside the final few furlongs and looks to have place claims if running up to her best.
Today's selection
Daphne - 1 point @ 15/2