ZZ TOP IS NO.1!
Perrett’s consistent course-proven star looks set to prove a smash hit for punters in finale
NEWMARKET
1.15
SENSE OF ROMANCE is a tentative selection in the first of six two-year-old contests.
James Tate’s debutante is bred to go as she is a daughter of speed influence Dutch Art out of a mare related to several juvenile winners.
1.50
EYE OF HEAVEN has been highly touted ahead of his debut.
Frankie Dettori’s mount certainly looks the part on paper.
Exceed And Excel needs no introduction as the sire of fast two-year-olds, while dam Risen Sun produced Desert Safari, was twice a winner for Mark Johnston in his juvenile season.
The Middleham stable’s debutants usually know what is required at the first time of asking so he should go well.
2.25
SAINT LAWRENCE is interesting on his racecourse bow. A son of Al Kazeem, a four-time Group 1 hero, he is a half-brother to
Daahyeh, who scored on his debut for Roger Varian in May of last year before going on to lift the Group 3 Albany Stakes at Royal Ascot and the Group 2 Rockfel Stakes at Newmarket.
3.00
SAUNTON makes appeal for a stable that invariably has a deep pool of two-year-old talent. He is the son of Footstepsinthesand – winner of the 2,000 Guineas and the sire of the yard’s smart 2019 youngsters
Threat and Mums
Tipple – and a mare who scored at six furlongs in Ireland.
Trainer Richard
Hannon reports
Saunton to be going well at home ahead of his first visit to the racecourse.
3.35
SKY ANGEL has a lofty purchase price to repay – and there’s no time like the present.
The bidding at France’s prestigious Arqana Sales last August stood at €800,000 when the hammer fell for the final time, so there will be some head scratching in the Godolphin camp if the half-sister by Dark Angel to a two-year-old winner can’t put her best foot forward on her debut.
4.10
OCEAN EYES will very likely start at rewarding odds but her ancestry is not one of a backward type who needs time. Sire Mehmas retired after a two-year-old season that yielded victories in the July Stakes at Newmarket and the Richmond Stakes at Glorious Goodwood in 2016, while dam Rise Up Lotus, a five-furlong winner as a youngster, has no shortage of speedsters in her family.
4.45
MIA MENTO is heading in the right direction – and a second career win should not be far away. The Casamento filly has not hit the target since a debut score at Leopardstown in July 2018, but, after a switch from Ireland, she followed a fourth at Newcastle with a half-length second at Gosforth Park in March, and has sound claims of going one better despite a 2lb nudge up the weights.
5.20
(see front page)
5.55
BEAR FORCE ONE had a progressive profile in the second half of 2019 and should still have more up his sleeve.
Having made it third-time lucky with a victory at Kempton in August, Roger Teal’s gelding followed up in handicap company at Newbury 24 days later and, while shocked by 50-1 skinner Entangling back in Sunbury in November, Jason Watson’s mount isn’t done with yet.
6.30
ZZORO is weighted to show to the fore in an open finale.
Amanda Perrett’s (left) course-and-distance victor made the frame on all bar three of his 10 outings last year.