Nunthorpe Stakes

Nearly every year there are posts slating the current state of the sprinting division compared to years gone by, but I really can't remember a season as poor as this. Gp3 performers, at best, collecting Gp1 prizes. The Australian Nature Strip aside, who shat all over ours from a great height. Winter Power has the best overall figure/form, but that was last year, and even that performance wouldn't have cut it in a decent year. Royal Aclaim is a short price, although drifting out now, but I have it as a weak Listed event. She won very easily so maybe she is a lot better than the bare form. But taking these sort of prices just because a horse 'could be anything' doesn't appeal to me.

There has often been debates about whether the 2yo allowance is too generous here. I'm on the side of it being massively generous. I know people can point to there being more failures than success stories, but those failures were either not good enough anyway or not primed to deliver on the day. I have The Platinum Queen running to just about up to Listed class last time. It remains to be seen if she could repeat those front running tactics against stronger opposition. She obviously wouldn't want to get involved in a pace burn up. If her last performance wasn't just a one off, or has taken much out her, and she can run anywhere close to that today, it will take a top notcher to give that weight to her, so I've backed her.