Caustic Love to conquer all

Dalgleish’s top weight looks to continue progress

CAUSTIC LOVE can make herself the object of racegoers’ affections again in the EBF Stallions Winners Fillies’ Handicap at Musselburgh.

Keith Dalgleish’s three-yearold shares top-weight with her contemporary Beryl The Petal, but is easily the pick of the pair who must shoulder 10st 1lb and concede up to more than a stone-and-a-half in the ninerunner field.

Caustic Love earned her burden, when she won for the third time in five starts, at Ripon.

That length-and-three-quarter success confirmed her continued progression and, although she is up 17lb in all since the start of her winning spree, there is no reason to suspect she has reached the limit yet.

Back to seven furlongs from a mile, Caustic Love has shown winning form over even shorter and the assistance of Joe Fanning in the saddle for the first time is no detriment either, of course.

The form standard set in the French Duncan Bibby Factors British Stallion Studs EBF Maiden Stakes is not insurmountable, so debutant LE CHIFFRE comes into the reckoning.

David O’Meara’s Zoffany colt has prospects at this sharp seven furlongs on pedigree, out of a mare who was a five-time winner over five and six for the same connections.

Owner David Armstrong appears keen to win the Dorothea Hawthorne Memorial Handicap, supplying two of the 12 runners for different trainers.

Paul Midgley’s LATHOM looks the likeliest of the two.

York was too much for the six-yearold last month, despite his billing as favourite, and he is comfortably held by his owner’s Holmeswood on that running.

But Lathom was previously in fine form at this minimum trip, and will be hard to peg back if he can get to the front.