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Sprinter with potential heads the Weds' double
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Mostabshir will be happier at Kempton
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Wednesday's action at Kempton has a fair amount of interest and the 17:30 Novice brings together some good yards doing battle, and with Gamekeeper favourite early there was a big shift in the betting this morning with Mukaafah backed from 11/43.75 and hammered into 13/82.63. Will he go off even shorter?
His debut at Yarmouth last term was a run well below market expectations, but clearly his trainer Kevin Philippart De Foy must have known he had a fairly useful horse on his hands as he blitzed his rivals on his second start over Kempton's 6f.
He was easy to spot too from the inside with his white face and socks, and he was extremely sharp out of the stalls and produced a couple of fast early sectionals to put his rivals on the backfoot.
With 2f to go there was about 10L back to the third who was hard ridden.
He'll need to harness that speed and use it more economically in the future, but he's clearly fast and there's space now at the top end of the Shadwell ranks for a speedster. Whether he can go on to another level we'll see, but we'll find out about him today with a penalty.
Expect him to make the running and he's drawn well. His sire Blue Point has an impressive 56% placed record with his runners at Kempton over 6f so they seem to thrive on the surface, and he will be some tool after the soft blunted his speed at Yarmouth on his debut.
With four horse of the six rated three-figures, this is a fine race to sweep us into the Flat season and Mostabshir was a horse I mentioned in last week's antepost column for Doncaster, but wasn't seen on Town Moor due to the swamp-like conditions.
A return to Kempton is a massive plus as he won his debut at the track in November 2022 with a 4L win from a wide draw.
He impressed again at York back in Novice company after running Flat at the Craven meeting, and his York win earned some glowing praise from the "dice man" John Gosden who mentioned the horse was able to quicken twice.
The selection was last seen at Chelmsford in the winter, and while he disappointed there, it was his first run after being gelded.
He does look a tricky horse to place as Gosden must have thought he was up to Group level with some of the races he competed in last year, and if he sticks down the handicap route, he'll a rating nudging 108.
In opposition there's Mount Athos, and it must be the fifth horse named as such. I remember Luca Cumani's smart horse of the same name, but he's short enough at 11/82.38.