24th Oct 2013 | Horse Racing
Doncaster Tips: Free Zone
Finished half a length behind Steps but can turn around the result if avoiding early pace pressure.
Four of the top six from the Listed Rous Stakes reconvene at Doncaster this afternoon and I expect they will battle it out for top honours once more.
Steps is a worthy adversary having won at Ascot but he only finished half a neck ahead of Free Zone; Bryan Smart’s horse could turn the tables in the 3.15 Doncaster.
Examine the sectionals and Steps ran just about the perfect race. A finishing speed of 100% means the horse expended his energy evenly through the contest. Anything above 100% and the horse went through the early part of the race too slowly; a figure below 100% means they went too fast.
This brings me to Free Zone, who of the quartet ran most sub-optimally. Paul Hanagan didn’t get his fractions radically wrong but his mount ran the first 3f approximately 0.2s too fast, equivalent of a length.
There is a danger that in a big field there is too much pace pressure and Free Zone is forced into an unsustainable gallop but if Paul Hanagan can conserve a bit more energy for the finish (and we are talking very small margins) then he could turn the tables on Steps.
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Odds correct at time of publishing: 18:01 24th Oct, 2013 but subject to change
