Chris Dixon's Notes And Angles: Stay with Alnajeeb

It seemed there were impressive performances on the track whichever way you looked last week.

At York, Starman proved well named. Good and getting better, he’s a hugely exciting prospect in the sprint division. The Diamond Jubilee at Royal Ascot will be next on his agenda, as it will be for runner-up Nahaarr, the Ayr Gold Cup winner who possesses a power-packed finish and could be suited by Ascot’s stiffer track.

The respective trainers of that pair were responsible for two of the other top performances of the past week. Ed Walker’s Primo Bacio showed a sparkling turn of foot to power clear of a good field, the fact she came from the rear in a race that hadn’t been run at a strong pace making her worthy of an upgrade to the bare performance. She can make her mark in Group company, perhaps in Group One company, and the Coronation at Royal Ascot is now her aim.

Also ready to make his mark at a higher level is the William Haggas-trained Al Aasy, who could hardly have found defying a penalty for a previous Group Three win any easier when sauntering home at Newbury on Saturday. The Cazoo Coronation Cup at Epsom seems likely to be next, for which he’s a short-priced favourite.

The Dante first and third, Hurricane Lane and High Definition will surely also be set for Epsom and each would be well served by an increase in trip. Both have a stout pedigree and shape like stayers so the St Leger will probably suit both in time but they warrant serious consideration for the Cazoo Derby for now.

Such was the quality on display last week, the list above is hardly an extensive one. Even if adding in names such as novice winners Derab – a half-brother to Enable who was very impressive at Newmarket on Friday – and Potapova – an attractive filly with a Coronation Stakes entry who bolted up at Redcar on Monday – it wouldn’t be complete.

As for this week’s additions to the tracker, the list below also isn’t extensive, but here’s five horses I think it can pay to follow in the near future.

By Sea The Stars out of a Listed winning mare and a half-brother to 14f Listed winner Vivid Diamond, Alnajeeb is bred to be much better than a mark of 67 so it could be taken as disappointing that he couldn’t defy that mark on his handicap debut at Beverley last week. However, a steady pace was no use to him as he looks short of tactical pace but keeps grinding away and will be better in a more strongly run race and over longer trips. When he gets that I’d expect plenty of improvement and more than one win.

Scott Dixon has his horses in tremendous order and if he can keep Zargun in the sort of form he was in at York last week there’s a race with his name on it soon. A horse who regularly plied his trade in Group races in Germany, Zargun showed bundles of pace to lay up in a race that was run at a frenetic early gallop and saw those coming from off the pace seen to best advantage. In faring best of those that were disputing the early tempo Zargun marks himself down as an in-form and well-handicapped horse and if he can be found a scenario with less pace pressure could well prove hard to peg back.

La Trinidad didn’t manage to build on the back-to-back wins he recorded at the beginning of last season but he held his form in some very competitive handicaps against improving horses and there was enough in his latest run at York last week to suggest he’s going to be back at that level of performance soon. Thrown into another hot race, La Trinidad travelled well in this tough environment and briefly threatened to mount a challenge but ultimately flattened out to take a creditable sixth place. A 2lb drop in the handicap has followed and off what’s starting to look like an attractive mark he can be found easier openings.

It wasn’t difficult to see that Frankenstella was unfortunate to not go a lot closer than she did at York on Thursday, having been stopped in her tracks just as she was making her ground comfortably. With her momentum halted her chance was gone but her effort did go to highlight that she’s a filly on an attractive mark right now. She looks likely to add to the three wins she chalked up last term within her next few runs.

Wahraan chased home the progressive Lord Protector for the second time this term when beaten half a length at Salisbury on Thursday. Getting better by the run, he still looked a bit green and looks sure to keep progressing as he develops while a bigger field and stronger pace than he got here may well suit. He’ll stay an extra couple of furlongs in time, too, and should be in for a productive campaign as despite a 3lbs rise for defeat here he still looks to be on a mark a good bit lower than where his ceiling will be.

With the quality of racing on offer the past week saw a number of strong handicaps that I’d expect to work out well. The London Gold Cup is always a race that yields a good number of winners and there’s no reason to think that same won’t be true again, but I’m going to highlight a couple of less obvious contests that I think will produce a fair number of winners.

First up is the mile handicap taken by Alabama Boy at Newmarket on Thursday (watch above). A 10lb rise for his previous win at Haydock wasn’t enough to stop this improving three-year-old, who will progress again when upped to 10f but in behind there were a number of horses who appealed as well-treated going into the race and can prove the point another day.

A 0-75 at Leicester on a Monday isn’t the most obvious place to find a hot piece of form but the 10f three-year-old handicap won by Chalk Stream looks just that. Again, several of the field looked well-handicapped going into the race and at this level won’t often find a race that looks quite as warm as this one so should be placed to advantage soon.

I regularly look into draw and pace stats before looking at a card, especially if it’s the first meeting of the season at a track and once again the stat that jumped out at me in preparing for York last week was the record of front-runners in races over 12f plus.

Since the beginning of 2015 there have been 102 horses attempt to make all in fields of 10 or more runners on the Knavesmire over those distances and just one has been successful. As such, I’m always wary of regular front runners when going through races there and will be again ahead of Saturday. Cue something making all in the 3.15!