MISE EN ROSE SET TO BLOOM
Mise En Rose can blossom when she is sent into battle for a fast-track qualifier at Chelmsford tomorrow.
Trainer Charlie Appleby will be keen to send this filly to All-Weather Championships Finals Day at Lingfield on Good Friday.
She must, however, step up considerably on her run at Lingfield in November when she only beat one horse home in a Listed race over a mile.
Mise En Rose was probably always up against it from well off the pace that day, but it was somewhat disconcerting to see her hang so alarmingly along the home straight.
Be that as it may, the four-year-old daughter of War Front is a much better horse than that performance would suggest, and she can illustrate the point at the Essex venue.
Mise En Rose is the joint-highest-rated runner in this field, yet she races on level terms with most of the field, and even gets weight off the top horse, Ashadihan.
She also has winning form at Chelmsford, having eased nearly three lengths clear in a one-mile handicap last May.
Mise En Rose reverts to seven furlongs, a distance over which she has won twice, for this latest examination, with jockey William Buick likely to be more prominent than he was at Lingfield a few months ago.
These factors combined make her an appealing prospect in an open race.
Keep close tabs on Bracken Brae in the twomile handicap earlier on the card.
One slight blip at Kempton aside, the five-year-old mare has been on good terms with herself, having nicely claimed a third Chelmsford success in November.
She now gets the chance to rubber-stamp her aptitude for a marathon trip after she was cruelly denied victory by a nose over this course and distance on January 5.
Bracken Brae has only gone up 1lb and she should get the job done in what is not as good a race.
Not much to warm the cockles on the all-weather at Kempton, but it could be quite interesting to see how Masterfilly gets on over a mile and a half in the concluding handicap.
Veteran chaser Alfred Oats finally looks primed to strike at Carlisle.
The 13-year-old has had an unusual career, to say the least, as this will be just his 15th start under Rules.
He is also winless, which hardly strengthens the case for the defence.
That said, Alfred Oats has been in fine fettle this winter and has been cherry-picked an eminently winnable opportunity in the extended three-mile handicap case at the Cumbria circuit.
Robert Goldie’s inmate enjoys running in a quagmire and emerged with plenty of honour on his last two outings at Ayr, where he claimed second place on both occasions.
His most recent effort was especially satisfying as Alfred Oats seemed to enjoy himself back over a similar sort of trip as he tackles here.
With the handicapper having left him alone on a teasing mark of 82, a longoverdue victory, which would please his connections no end, could be forthcoming.