In the competitive looking opener at Ascot (2.30) tomorrow I'm interested in Katies Tuitor. I saw this horse win in impressive fashion at Kempton over six months ago. Since then the horse has won once again at Sandown but hasn't been out for five months, probably on account of the wet winter we're just emerging from. With better ground and the Brendan Duke stable in good form, I feel this horse can make his presence felt, although this looks a tough race and he'll need to be on form. Earlier in the season the trainer had indicated a race at the Punchestown Festival was the aim.
Alan King's Katess runs in the mares' bumper, the last race at Uttoxeter (5.30) and needs to be forgiven a below par effort last time at Fakenham. Prior to that she had finished fourth in a listed event at Cheltenham on heavy ground - one of those in front was Sophocles who was second in the Cheltenham bumper. The better ground here should suit.
I don't follow the flat particularly closely. Nick Mordin, writing in The Weekender, puts forward Forty Licks and Kandidate as a couple of horses at fancy prices against the big two in the Dubai World Cup, namely Invasor and Discreet Cat. With only seven in the field, a falsely run race could develop giving a surprise result.