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Progressive Midnight Gun can complete hat-trick
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The Strikin Viking has the best form on offer
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One Look clear on ratings and capable of better
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Midnight Gun has won his last couple of starts for Ed Walker but bids for his hat-trick in Goodwood's opening handicap (13:50) with new trainer Hamad Al Jehani, having been snapped up by Wathnan Racing since his last win.
He was the cosy winner of a novice at Nottingham in May and then made his handicap debut on a lenient-looking mark at Newmarket the following month. Heavily backed for that contest, Midnight Gun duly landed the odds, if only in workmanlike fashion, but it was another step forward and a useful effort which evidently made him an attractive proposition for his new owners.
A couple of winners have come out of that Newmarket race so Midnight Gun looks capable of defying a 5lb rise in the weights - he heads the Timeform weight-adjusted ratings by a pound and has the 'p' on his rating indicating further improvement to come. He certainly has the pedigree to make into a still better colt, by Kingman out of the 1000 Guineas winner Sky Lantern, while his handy draw should help too on this tricky track.
Back Midnight Gun in the 13:50 at Goodwood
Midnight Gun's new connections also had very promising two-year-old The Strikin Viking on their pre-Goodwood shopping list and he can complete a quick double on the card for the Wathnan team in the Richmond Stakes (14:25).
Previously with Kevin Ryan, he already looks a smart colt in the making after just two starts. He was impressive on his debut in a maiden at York in June when soon travelling powerfully in front and quickening clear to beat Tiger Mask who finished fourth in the Vintage Stakes here on Tuesday. That was a good performance on the clock, too, and The Strikin Viking enhanced his reputation when pitched into Group 2 company on his next start in the Railway Stakes at the Curragh.
While he found Aidan O'Brien's Henri Matisse half a length too good in the end, the winner looks one of the best two-year-old colts seen out so far and The Strikin Viking travelled best for much of the race suggesting there's plenty more to come from him. That form looks a cut above anything his rivals have produced to date and The Strikin Viking is fully 8lb clear in the Timeform weight-adjusted ratings ahead of Tropical Storm and Billboard Star, runners-up in the Norfolk Stakes and July Stakes respectively.
Back The Strikin Viking in the 14:25 at Goodwood
In contrast to the sun-baked conditions at Goodwood, the going has been on the soft side at Galway this week but that's good news as far as Paddy Twomey's filly One Look is concerned.
She lost her unbeaten record when favourite for a Group 3 at Leopardstown when last seen in May, beating only one home, but the good to firm conditions that day look a plausible excuse for a filly who had looked so promising on much softer ground previously.
One Look looked a potentially top-drawer filly when forging clear to win the very valuable Goffs Million on her debut at the Curragh last September, leaving a huge field of mostly more experienced rivals toiling in her wake in that sales race, and then completed a simple task in a minor event at Cork on her reappearance. While she was unable to take up any of her big engagements in the spring, she has a good opportunity to get her career back on track in the listed Corrib Fillies Stakes (15:55) where she's 7lb clear on Timeform weight-adjusted ratings and remains open to improvement for her in-form stable.
Back One Look in the 15:55 at Galway