Miliika can rock

FEW TRAINERS are as adept at charting a path to success with decent fillies as Rae Guest so all eyes should be on Miliika in the Weatherbys Bloodstock Insurance Maiden Stakes at Brighton.

Guest has a particularly impressive record with young horses of the fairer sex, and looks to have another decent prospect on his hands with this daughter of Green Desert.

Unraced as a juvenile, Miliika made up for lost time at Doncaster on her debut when she defied visible traits of greenness when finishing second in a hot-looking maiden.

The winner that day, Shahzan, looks above average, while Out Do, who was five lengths adrift of Guest’s inmate in third, is held in some esteem by Luca Cumani.

Miliika might have even have won on Town Moor, but veered alarmingly left inside the final furlong before being collared at the death. That blow-out should prove invaluable here, with Seb Sanders just the man to keep her on the straight and narrow by the seaside.

The likelihood of better ground than at Doncaster should also be considered a positive.

Speightowns kid was well beaten as the 3-1 joint-favourite at Wolverhampton last time, but that in no way tells the full story ahead of his return at Kempton.

Big things were expected of the Matthew Salaman-trained grey in a five-furlong handicap at Dunstall Park, but he endured an awfully turbulent passage three furlongs out and faded badly out of contention.

Before that, however, he had looked in great nick when only short-headed by Mother Jones at Wolverhampton.

Speightowns Kid was well backed on his return from a 223-day hiatus, so Salaman had clearly been doing plenty with him at home.

The four-year-old’s form figures on Polytrack also read very well, especially at Kempton, and he now competes in the Millwall Racedayat Kempton Park Handicap off a mark in the 60s.

Just as revealing as a first-time eyeshield, of course, is the fact Silvestre de Sousa receives the leg-up.