While the jumping ticks over ahead of the Festival next week, fans of the Southwell Fibresand (and there must be a few more out there somewhere) will find themselves drawn towards the one-mile handicap at the Midlands track on Tuesday afternoon, which has a very fair claim to be the most competitive contest of the day under either code.
Alpha Tauri and Vivat Rex are non-runners, leaving 12 to go to post, but of those, no fewer than nine are previous winners over course and distance. The remaining three runners include a previous winner at this trip, a previous course winner at seven furlongs, and a lightly raced, in-form Fibresand debutant whose sire – Fastnet Rock – has a 24% strike-rate on the surface. None of them, in other words, can be ruled out with confidence.
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