Welsh Lord ran green on his racecourse debut, over a mile, at Chelmsford last October and was again restless in the stalls when making his belated seasonal reappearance, over 1 mile 2 furlongs, at the Essex track earlier this month. However, on the latter occasion, despite taking a keen hold, the Dark Angel gelding made all the running to beat the favourite – and subsequent winner – Saint Diana by 3 lengths, eased down. The third horse, Enbihaar, who was beaten a further 3 lengths, also won comfortably at Kempton last Tuesday to give the form an especially healthy glow.
Gelded during the summer, Saeed bin Suroor’s three-year-old remains open to significant improvement on just his third start and, while he holds no fancy entries, can take the Carol McDonagh Well Done Novice Stakes (3.45) at Lingfield on Monday en route to better things. The Newmarket handler has a healthy 13-47 (28%) strike rate with his three-year-olds at the Surrey track over the last five seasons and, while he faces a number of unknown quantities, Welsh Lord looks to have every chance of improving that record. An unexposed, progressive type, with compelling winning form on Polytrack, Welsh Lord appeals as a potential ‘good thing’.
Selection: Lingfield 3.45 Welsh Lord to win 9/4