Roaring Legend does not appear to have been hit too hard for winning last time out and he holds strong claims against his elders in the Aspire At Hamilton-Park Handicap on Tuesday.
Trained by James Ferguson, the Roaring Lion gelding had a frustrating run of near-misses until finally breaking his duck at Salisbury last month.
Ferguson had tried him in a tongue tie for the first time at Redcar and that has stayed on, but it took another couple of runs for the Newmarket handler to reach for cheekpieces.
That piece of headgear had the desired effect as, back in maiden company and upped to 2400m for the first time, he was a very easy winner.
The handicapper put him up 2kg, which given the second has been given a mark of 79, looks fairly lenient as he was well on top.
Midnight Lir has shown a good level of form in three runs to date – enough to be rated 76 by the handicapper – so it is interesting his shrewd handler Michael Dods is running him in the racingtv.com EBF Restricted Maiden Stakes.
Fourth of eight on debut but not beaten far, he was then beaten less than two lengths at this track when fourth again.
Last time out at Thirsk he beat the rest of the field comfortably but was no match for a William Haggas-trained odds-on favourite.
The third came out and won next time out, so you would think it will take a reasonable performance to beat him.
Fantastic Fox has looked in the grip of the handicapper this season, but the Aspire Cleaning Company Almada Mile Handicap is perhaps his easiest task for a while.
Roger Varian’s five-year-old was fourth in the City And Suburban at Epsom, fifth in a decent event at Chester and then filled the same spot when favourite back at Epsom on Derby day.
He began the year rated 97 and is now down to 92. His last win came off 94 but that was two years ago.
Ed Dunlop enjoyed his best month of the season so far in June and his Lucidity surely can not be far away from winning.
Unfancied in three maiden and novice races, she fared much better on her handicap debut when third of nine at Nottingham.
She carries top weight off a mark of 61 in the At The Races App Market Movers Handicap at Brighton, which tells you the class of the opposition.
Simon and Ed Crisford’s Labalaba was in the process of going very close on debut before throwing away his chance by hanging left in the closing stages.
An expensive breeze-up purchase at £210,000, he was backed to run well and looked like helping his supporters collect until showing greenness.
With experience under his belt, he should be the one to beat in the JPR Phoenix/EBF Maiden Stakes at Ffos Las.
The Crisfords also look to have strong claims with Intricacy in the Regimental Cleaning Handicap.
This Dubawi colt has only won one of his five starts but has yet to run a bad race.
His penultimate effort saw him beaten by Royal Ascot winner Burdett Road and on his most recent outing he was second at Sandown.
He is less exposed than most in this field.
Top tips for today’s UK meetings
HAMILTON: Race 1: 15.15 Midnight Lir, Race 2: 15.47 Calypso, Race 3: 16.17 Fantastic Fox, Race 4: 16.47 ROARING LEGEND (NAP), Race 5: 17.17 Water Of Leith, Race 6: 17.52 Red Allure.
BRIGHTON: Race 1: 15.25 Confils, Race 2: 15.57 Lucidity, Race 3: 16.27 Sun Festival, Race 4: 16.57 Minhaaj, Race 5: 17.27 Tobetso, Race 6: 18.02 Voodoo Ray.
STRATFORD: Race 1: 18.40 Outsmart, Race 2: 19.10 Sobegrand, Race 3: 19.40 Uggy Uggy Uggy, Race 4: 20.10 Whodini, Race 5: 20.40 Red Force One, Race 6: 21.10 Line Of Descent, Race 7: 21.40 Fort Randall.
FFOS LAS: Race 1: 19.30 Under Curfew, Race 2: 10.00 Labalaba, Race 3: 20.30 Doras Tamar, Race 4: 21.00 Kehlani, Race 5: 21.30 Intricacy, Race 6: 22.00 Goodison Girl.
ALL TO COME: Midnight Li and Roaring Legend (Hamilton Races 1 and 4).
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