2.50pm Musselburgh Tips & Betting Preview 03/06/2017

With a decent enough £22,834 awaiting the winner a solid field has been attracted north with runners from both Newmarket and Lambourn and four of the ten declared rated over the benchmark of 100. Our race preview lists all the horses and give a brief synopsis of them all, good or bad.

IN SUMMARY: A good looking race that should provide plenty of clues for future races as well as a winner today who on form ought to be Hugo Palmer’s UNFORGETABLE FILLY who wasn’t disgraced in the 1000 Guineas at Newmarket behind Winter, and should be even happier dropped back to this seven furlongs. She can prove far too good for both Pirouette and the interesting Florida Times for second and third.

1 REALTRA – There can be no argument that the Roger Varian yard are in fine fettle with nine winners from their last thirty-three runners for a 27% strike rate and a small level stakes profit but the five-year-old daughter of Dark Angel has to give three pounds away all round this afternoon which won’t be easy. He last run was a pretty impressive fourth to the highly regarded Mix And Mingle at Lingfield in the Group Three Chartwell Fillies’ Stakes over this trip earlier in the month and with the distance and going looking ideal and a drop in class it seems likely that she will be there or thereabouts in the finish.

2 CONSELICE – First time out for the season for the Karl Burke filly who goers well enough fresh and cannot be discounted on her first run in the United Kingdom having raced all over Italy so far including her last four runs for her current trainer after she moved yards from Stefano Botti. Her last of seven at San Siro when last seen in September doesn’t read very well and she hasn’t won or even placed in tree races now and has been tried over further making the seven furlongs today a bigger question mark than seems ideal.

3 EXCELLENT SOUNDS – Hughie Morrison sends the daughter of Exceed And Excel up from his West Ilsley base looking for a fourth winner in the last two weeks which have already yielded a solid level stakes profit of over eight points in the same period. Lightly raced with just the six starts and one win in a Lingfield handicap on the polytrack, and a below par seventh of nine (beaten over ten lengths) at Chelmsford last time out. Although he recent form has been on the all-weather she has placed twice on turf so there seems no issue with the surface today, but she has an awful lot to find on official ratings and needs to find close to thirty pounds of improvement to win this afternoon.

4 HELLS BABE – Connections of the four-year-old grey will be praying for rain so she can give of her best and if the heavens open she could yet be very interesting. Her last two runs have seen wins at Doncaster and then York, beating Florenza in to second on both occasions, but after her last victory trainer Michael Appleby said “Hells Babe is tough as anything. The plan is to try and get her some black type and there’s a fillies’ Listed race for her at Musselburgh in a fortnight’s time. We’ll probably aim her at that and hope it comes up soft. She wants soft ground really” which tells us that this has been her target, but that the current good to firm going is not in her favour.

5 PIROUETTE – The second of Hughie Morrison’s duet her and open to plenty of improvement after a promising third to Mix And Mingle on her seasonal debut when a short head in front of Realtra who she meets on three pounds better terms this afternoon. Sent off an 8/1 shot that day the betting suggested she would improve for the race though there is no real reason to expect the form to be reversed here on the new terms. Whether she is up to Listed class is open to question but she is certainly an interesting contender.

6 SUMMER ICON – Plenty to find on official ratings for Mick Channon’s filly who was a long way behind both Pirouette and Realtra last time out at Lingfield. Her two wins have been in maiden class and then a Class Three handicap and this may well be a bit beyond her though a big priced place is not an impossibility.

7 WOWCHA – Just the one win from eleven career starts in a Pontefract maiden last April leaves the daughter of Zoffany looking as if she has an awful lot to find and a big price seems assured for John Quinn’s four-year-old. She has placed numerous times but only in handicaps and she will need others to run below form to even threaten the places.

8 FLORIDA TIMES – One of the more interesting runners having only had the three starts so far, the first two when trained in Ireland by Adrian Brendan Joyce. After her Cork maiden success she travelled over to the David O’Meara stable and on her only run since finished third to Visionary at Newbury in the Listed Carnarvon Stakes over six furlongs and if she gets the seventh furlong here then she has to be seen as a major player with every chance.

9 GLITTER GIRL – William Haggas has had his huge string in good form pretty much all season and has a 23% strike rate in the last fortnight with nine winners from his last forty runners even if that does add up to a level stakes loss. As for Glitter Girl, she has already won  three of her nine starts at up to Class Two level in a Doncaster handicap last September and has run well in Group class with a fourth in the Rockfel Stakes and a second in the Oh So Sharp Stakes, both at Newmarket. Two runs this year have been less impressive with a seventh in the Fred Darling Stakes and a seventh again in the Listed Kilvington Stakes at Nottingham. She is only three and may improve further but she is yet to prove she has trained on and has a bit to find for the moment.

10 UNFORGETABLE FILLY – Six races for one solitary win at Lingfield over seven and a half furlongs in a maiden in September but three places in four starts suggest she has plenty of ability. Two runs this year have seen a superb second to Daban in the Nell Gwyn Stakes when only beaten three quarters of a length over this trip before stepped up in both class and distance at Newmarket in the 1000 Guineas when an eleven lengths sixth to Winter. Weakening close home over the mile the drop back to seven furlongs here looks ideal, with the main concern the lack of form of the Hugo Palmer yard but he is slowly coming back to form and this filly may well help to start the ball rolling again.