Roger Varian’s AL AZD comes here chasing a hat trick and still looks open to further improvement. He’s up in the weights and dropped back slightly in trip, but I don’t think either of those factors should be too much of an issue.

The blinkers seem to have really helped sharpen him up and with SINTRA likely to ensure a strong pace, the race setup could suit perfectly. It’s a wide open handicap, but I do think AL AZD may still be ahead of the handicapper.