LEEPER LOOKING FOR LISTED VICTORY

14:05 Newmarket

Tasman Bay is trained by the accomplished horseman Sir Mark Todd and won in his second start, beating the odds on favourite. He was then third, over 1m 2f at Newbury, behind subsequent Dante winner Hurricane Lane. So with that in mind, he’s probably got a good chance. However, the slight concern I have is that the ground is currently good-to-soft and he didn’t seem to take to the soft ground on his first race, and maybe he needs solely good ground.

Fancy Man has the same connections as Chindit and has some decent form during his five races. In his second race, he finished half a length behind Cobh, who had just been beaten by the aforementioned Chindit and went on to race in Group company- most notably finishing 3rd in front of ensuring French Group 1 victor Gear Up. Fancy Man, in his next race at Haydock, beat another subsequent winner in River Alwen. He was down the field in a decent renewal of the Feilden, here at Newmarket, but bounced back to form when finishing 3rd in the Chester Vase last time out. He’s by far the pick on the form but he does have to defy a 4lb penalty..

I’ve gone against my better nature of facts with my selection. John Leeper makes an immediate impact on his breeding, Frankel by Snow Fairy, and he was quite impressive last time out, scoring by 4 lengths and beating a few nice types, all whilst running as green as the grass he runs on today. It’s clear that he found 7 furlongs too fast in his first race, with the winner also having some good form. He’s trained by Ed Dunlop and named after his late father, the legendary John Dunlop, who actually won this race in 2009 with Palavicini. It’s a slight roll of the dice, as there’s no solid form, but he looks the real deal and Ed Dunlop has been touting the Derby as “the dream”. I, for one, would love to see him get his head in front for connections.

JOHN LEEPER (WIN)

written by Kieran McHugh