Group 3 Sovereign Stakes at Salisbury on August 11

Ultra competitive Grp 3
With the front running the rectifier and frozen power (possible pacemaker) a fast pace looks likely.
Side glance- Tough and consistent ,best form at Ascot looks underpriced @ 7/2
Premio loco- Bags of ability but not getting younger and inconsistent underpriced @ 11/2
Emerald commander- Form of ponty win looks suspect with St Moritz looking out of sorts. Slightly underpriced @ 6/1
Fanualter _- Very solid form. 3lb weight concession not ideal  .Fair price 6/1
Dance and Dance - Very progressive this year and slightly unlucky last twice. most likely winner. slightly
overpriced at 13/2
Beacon lodge- Tough and conisistent at this level. Needs rain to be fully effective
Secrecy-  has decent ability on his day . fairly priced @ 14/1
Julienas- Progressive type whose forms ties in closely with dance and dance. Track and likely pace scenario
ideal. significantly overpriced at 16/1.
  I fancy Julienas and Dance and Dance, will back both ,but put more on Julienas due to its price.

Fanunalter is a decent horse. Slow place last time did not help him otherwise he would have bustled up Dick Turpin. At 6/1 he makes plenty of appeal but they are expecting loads of rain tomorrow so until I know the going I will hold off. No idea if he would like easy ground.

Godolphin is represented by three runners - Emerald Commander, Frozen Power and Secrecy - in the Group Three totepool Sovereign Stakes over a mile at Salisbury on Thursday, August 11.

Emerald Commander, who is trained by Saeed bin Suroor, comes into the race off the back of a comfortable victory in a Listed contest over a mile at Pontefract on July 24, when he was eased down to record a two and a quarter length success over St Moritz. Prior to that, the four-year-old had run two good races in Pattern company over a mile in Germany, taking second in the Group Two Grafenberger Meilen Trophy at Dusseldorf on July 17 and fourth in the Group Three Hamburger Meile at Hamburg on June 25. He was a dual Group race winner in 2010, taking the Group Two Darley Oettingen-Rennen over a mile at Baden-Baden, Germany in August and the nine-furlong Group Three Prix Daphnis at Longchamp, France, in July.

Saeed bin Suroor is also represented by Secrecy. The five-year-old made a winning seasonal reappearance on July 14, when he got the better of stable companion Invisible Man by a length and three quarters in a mile conditions event at Doncaster. His latest run was in Germany, when he came home eighth in the Internationales Super-Handicap over nine furlongs at Hoppegarten on July 24.

Frozen Power, from the stable of Mahmood Al Zarooni, will be making his first appearance since three unplaced efforts at the Dubai International Racing Carnival at Meydan in January and February. During the 2010 campaign in Europe he showed a good level of form, most notably when successful in the mile Group Two Mehl Mulhens-Rennen (German 2,000 Guineas) at Cologne in May.

Ted Durcan takes the mount on Emerald Commander, with Richard Mullen aboard Secrecy and Ahmed Ajtebi on Frozen Power.

Saeed bin Suroor said: "Emerald Commander is doing well right now and any rain in the ground will help his cause. The horse won well last time, I was pleased with that performance, and he is ready to run well again.

"Secrecy went to Germany last time and I was a bit disappointed with him on that occasion. He has come back from that race in good form and we will see how he runs."

Mahmood Al Zarooni said: “Frozen Power is in good form but I think he will need the run as he has not been out for a long time.

“It doesn’t look an easy race. He is a good horse when he shows his best form, as he proved when he won in Germany last year.”

A total of nine other runners go to post, including Premio Loco, a triple Group Two winner, Fanunalter, a Group Three winner at Epsom this season, dual Listed victor Side Glance and Julienas, successful in the Royal Hunt Cup Heritage Handicap at Royal Ascot.

Godolphin has won the totepool Sovereign Stakes twice previously, with Belenus in 2006 and Layman in 2005

Like yesterday's fillies listed race, this is a hot contest. How big is the draw bias at Salis? Bookies seem to be happy to write of Julienas due to high draw...?
Side Glance and Premio Loco look rock solid to me. But such a competitive race, would rather go for a bigger-priced contender and Julienas does look over-priced.

no apparent draw bias detectable over the c/d johnnyrant

thanks grendel - which makes Julienus price look v. generous imho

one of 8 hold-up horses in a field of 12, race might not be run to suit

well done johnny

Fanunalter massively unlucky there. Tried to go for a run at least 3 times and got stopped each time.

The rectifier was given a very soft early lead ,with frzen power not being used as a pacemaker. This led to
big problems for the hold up horses. Fortune rode the perfect race on Side glance. Dance and Dance was forced to challenge wide but didn't look 100% on going past the winner ,having traded at 1/3, and looks a little
soft in a finish. Fanualter ran into all kinds of trouble and looked the unlucky horse of the race, finishing full of running.
Julianes ran like he was unfit.

Nice horsie.

should run into a place behind Frankel in the QEII on the straight mile. wonder if its possible to get an antepost exacta on???

Woodbine Mile is lovely. sweeping turns but its the longest straight in NA at a full 3 furlongs. plenty of time for Jimmy to get after him.   

Not sure on Hong Kong. A slow early gallop will kill his chance and it will be a wasted trip if he gets parked out wide....might be time to roll the dice...step him up to a mile and quarter in the Cup against end of season tired rivals.

Dubai Duty free over 9 is where he can shine. Balding probably lining up some of those big money 120-100 rated Handicaps over there too.