Altarsheed Potentially Smart

Altarsheed makes his return from a 198-day layoff and although we have to take his fitness for granted we know he handles the all-weather and stays a mile.

Last time we saw him, he was a wide margin winner of a decent Lingfield maiden. Paul Hanagan was allowed to dictate from the front and sprint away from the pack, with a closing sectional 0.47s quicker than anything else.

Altarsheed’s finishing speed was 107.7% of his average race speed, which suggests a steady gallop. Despite this, he ran a good speed rating that gets adjusted up to 91, when accounting for pace.

Sheikh Hamdan Al Maktoum won this race last year with Shaakis and he can land the prize again with Altarsheed.