The handicapper has taken a risk in leaving Johnny B Goode (15:30) on the same mark following a first success last time and we're going to respond in kind. He's down the market in a competitive, small-field nursery but that's probably down to the fact that he's apparently Richard Fahey's second choice, Ryan Moore having been booked for George Bowen. Such a booking shouldn't be a surprise, however, given how ambitious some of George Bowen's early targets have been. Johnny B Goode presumably hasn't been the same force at home and has been a slow learner on the track, too, but there's no doubt he's getting there now and that's why keeping him on a mark of 76 is dicey. The return to six furlongs ought to suit him, too.
The shape of the betting in the 16:05 is certainly unexpected. Johnny Barnes does warrant respect as such an expensive purchase, though that's just part of a fuller picture that looks to have been largely ignored given he's around 2.56/4 in a select field. Both Good Contact and Make It Up look value against the favourite, with the latter chosen as the best option. That Make It Up comes here on the back of a defeat possibly inflates his price, though it was to a well-entered Godolphin filly at Lingfield and rider David Probert did drop the whip to make matters worse. That, allied to a win in an above-average maiden at Epsom on debut just a fortnight earlier, marks Make It Up as a better prospect than his relatively dismissive odds would imply.
Another representing the Strawbridge-Balding-Probert axis who has been wronged in the betting following a defeat is Secret Hint (17:10) and we also expect her to go a long way to making amends. Her defeat, in a handicap here at the Glorious meeting, takes a little more explanation as she finished down the field, though an undesirable draw and a tendency to pull stepped up in trip played their part. She's back at six furlongs now and has been dropped in class as a result of a lenient 4-lb reprieve from the BHA handicapper. If Secret Hint is able to repeat the form of her reappearance, when she won a better-than-average maiden at Doncaster, she will prove tough to beat.
Timeform UK SmartPlays
All at Goodwood
Back Johnny B Goode @ 5.49/2 in the 15:30
Back Make It Up @ 4.3100/30 in the 16:05
Back Secret Hint @ 5.79/2 in the 17:10
