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Lenient rise for Newcastle's victory
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Entirely unexposed on turf
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Eminent Jewel is well handicapped to strike
Come On You Spurs is a filly on the up, and she has relished soft ground in her short career to date, but she needed every yard at Sandown on her penultimate outing, and the drying ground may mean this is a test sharp enough for her.
Rockymountainway is feared. She won with authority at Carlisle last time. However, she has been significantly upgraded from a Class 5 race to a tougher Class 3.
The similarly upward-mobile Mereside Diva has been knocking on the door and arrives from a strong Class 3 event at Newmarket, where she had Nibras Angel behind and traded as low as 1.330/100. Today's easier seven furlongs should suit her well, considering she had enough speed as a juvenile to score here over five furlongs, and she has been seen to good effect this season at sharp tracks. She seems fairly priced at 4/15.00.
However, Nibras Angel could quickly improve from Newmarket, considering that came following a 108-day break. She doesn't have much to find with Mereside Diva on that evidence, where she took a different route to the runner-up to finish third. She isn't straightforward out of the gates, and I'd be more interested in her on a more conventional track in due course.
Mereside Diva has been behind last year's winner, Rock Melody, this season, and Jim Goldie's runner has an outstanding record at this venue. She has only had two cracks at seven furlongs here, which includes a victory and an unlucky fourth.
Returning to Musselburgh for the first time since August and the first time over this trip since a narrow fourth in June is an angle from which to expect an improved performance on recent form figures. However, she is exposed.
Eminent Jewel - 9/25.50 on the Betfair Sportsbook - won well for this column at enormous odds at Newcastle 34 days ago despite not having the run of the race. She had to wait awfully long to make her challenge, but she cruised through the race to win, going away under minimal handling. That performance confirmed she was well ahead of the handicapper as suspected, and it's a surprise the assessor only served her up a four-pound rise.
Her previous form as a two-year-old, when green as grass, is exceptionally strong. Behind the smart Payment In Kind at Wolverhampton and Adaay In Devon at Carlisle, those two horses are rated ten and 28 lbs higher than her.
Considering she has only had three turf runs (first, second, and third), she must have more to offer, and there is no better-handicapped horse in the race. A strong stayer at this trip, she should get a race set up for her, but it's not out of the question they ride her prominently either now that she has learned to settle.
She was a big market drifter at Newcastle, so it's difficult to predict how the market will see her, but she should be the favourite for this, in my opinion, and 11/43.75 or bigger is acceptable.
15:50 Musselburgh - Back Eminent Jewel