Kempton

1.45pm

Mythical Star

He cost only £17,000 as a yearling I see, but he has a decent pedigree, being by Starspangledbanner out of a juvenile winner on the all-weather in the provinces in France, so hopefully he will prove a bargain and be able to go a bit, too. This is Richard’s first 2yo of the runner of the season though, and obviously you don’t know what you are bumping into in these races, so it’s hard to know what to expect.

4.02pm

Perfect Inch

I haven’t ridden her before but she looks to have done okay in two starts in Group 2 company in Dubai this year, and maybe that will give her a fitness edge on most of these. Lavender’s Blue is the obvious one to beat here if coming back to her best, but my filly was only a short-head away from being unbeaten in two starts here and was a progressive sort at the end of last season. She has each-way chances.

4.35pm

Starczewski

This is one I obviously know very well. He was a fair horse back in 2019 and he has returned to that level of form after a season off, winning for me here and at Wolverhampton on his last two starts. He has gone up 6lb for those two successes and this is clearly a more competitive handicap – it’s a much tougher race, in fact – but the Wolverhampton runner-up came out and won next time and I’d like to think he remains on a decent mark. Postileo looks the one to beat.