Our old friend Summer Romance reappears in the Dick Poole at Salisbury today. After looking top class in her first two starts the daughter of Kingman then flopped when odds-on for the Princess Margaret at Newmarket. I had wondered going into that race whether she was in the correct race taking on fillies who were probably pure sprinters. In the end she was held up and never picked up well enough to get involved.
The performance last time and now moving on to the Dick Poole next time suggest that the one time 1000 Guineas favourite is not going to tread the path of a typical 1000 Guineas prospect and having backed her for that race before her second start, I have pretty much already ruled her out as a realistic contender for the Classic. When fillies are still running at 6F in September I feel they are probably going to be sprinters at 3YO.
So what of Summer Romance today? She takes on fillies who were ahead of her last time and at the same distance why should she 6/4 when some of them are much bigger?
Dark Lady was 4th in the Princess Margaret and went on to run well in good races at 7F without quite convincing that she stayed that far. Back at 6F she may have a shout here but her earlier 4th place was a shade disappointing and she may just be a filly that would be ideal over a very easy 7F.
Good Vibes was 5th in the Princess Margaret after racing freely in the lead before weakening late. Bizarrely held up when dropped to 5F next time she simply never got involved and although she was 3rd in the Lowther next time back at 6F, I felt that was a poor renewal for pure speedsters and I doubt Good Vibes really improved 7 lbs, having started to look exposed prior to that race and Favourite Liberty Beach was a shade disappointing that day.
Millisle comes over from Ireland for Jessica Harrington and she brings 5F form to the table. Turned over at 1/2 on her second start she bounced back with a staying on late performance to land a Listed event last time out. Her bare form is similarly rated to the best of these and with the extra furlong looking likely to suit it is easy to see why she is 2nd Fav in most lists. I am not sure about her with the 6th furlong and different ground today when added to a weak looking affair she won last time. I think 9/2 is poor value on Millisle.
The once raced winners Final Option and Dear Power should improve and they ran to a similar level based on RPRs on their debuts but they didn't win races that looked up to much. I prefer the Varian filly, who cost 350,000 Guineas and she is a daughter of Acclamation. She looked less ready to me for her debut than Final Option did for hers and she was a bit keen in behind the leaders before coming through strongly to win well at Chelmsford. Entered in the Rockfel and Chevely Park, she needs a big step forward today but I thought she looked as if the race would do her a lot of good last time and she has scope. Final Option is a nice looking filly and she came away from her field at Ripon last time. I think she was tighter looking than Dear Power and she also gave me the impression 7F might be what she wants now.
In the end I couldn't back Summer Romance at 6/4 and Dark Lady is just a bit exposed to be value at 6/1. Millisle is short given trip/ground questions and I decided one of the lightly raced 1 for 1 fillies was the answer here. Final Option is the better backed filly but I went with Dear Power to improve enough to justify her Group entries and at 14/1 it's low cost interest in the race.
3.40 Salisbury Dear Power 14/1
