All the runners in the AR Legal
Fillies’ Handicap (4.20) at Newmarket on Wednesday have question
marks over them, for one reason or another, but the one who has
fewest, perhaps, is course and distance winner Highland Pass.
The daughter of Passing Glance steps into 0-100 handicap company for
the first time, but a 4lb rise in the weights for her 1½-length
defeat of Amandine in a small 0-95 contest over course and distance
last month looks entirely fair.
The runner-up, although perhaps not the
most resolute filly in training, had previously only been headed
close home when beaten three-quarters of a length in a similar race
to this one at Ascot on her previous outing, so it would be no
surprise if Highland Pass proved equal to this slight rise in class.
She took half a dozen starts to find her form this season, but has
officially improved 13lb since opening her account for the campaign,
in a lowly 0-65 affair at Salisbury, in August and may still be
improving. A collateral form line involving Sayem, trained by Ed
Walker, suggests that Crotchet just has the edge on these terms but,
unlike Highland Pass, Richard Fahey’s filly will find the Rowley
Mile Course at Newmarket an entirely different test from Musselburgh,
where she’s been doing her winning of late.
It rarely pays to be dogmatic about the
outcome of a horse race, but now that I see the case for Highland
Pass written down in black-and-white the stronger it becomes. In a
race full of if, buts and maybes, she clearly holds an outstanding
chance and it’ll be disappointing if she doesn’t go very close,
at least, to bring home the proverbial bacon.
Selection: Newmarket 4.20
Highland Pass to win 5/1
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