MAJESTIC DAWN (NAP) – 3.35pm NEWMARKET

1 PT EACH WAY BET ADVISED AT 33/1 WITH SKYBET WHO ARE THE ONLY BOOKMAKER PAYING AN AMAZING 8 PLACES…

Majestic Dawn was sent off at 8/1 third Favourite in this last year before finishing a very respectable 5.5 lengths 5th of 30 being out-gunned late on by John Gosden’s very well-handicapped 9/2 Favourite, Lord North, who is now officially rated 25lb higher. A year more mature off just 5lb higher he looks over-priced at 33/1-40/1 (he is available at 49/1 on Betfair Exchange as I write this).

Last years run was very decent considering he was coming back from a slightly longer than ideal 78 day break. This time round he has had a prep run on the All-Weather 17 days ago where he admittedly finished last of 10 but I’m not too concerned about that as he is much better on turf, will have needed the run coming off a 313 day break, and hopefully that will have blown away the cobwebs and put him spot on for this.

The selection was a bit backward at 2 years old so only made his debut at 2 years and 11 months back in January 2019. He made great strides forward last year starting with an RPR of 74 on debut, hitting a best RPR of 101 in October, and achieving form figures of 221773513 along the way. He also ran well twice on today’s Rowley course.

Paul Hanagan is an excellent first-time booking, the application of first-time cheek-pieces could bring about further improvement, and he is ideally drawn for a front-runner in stall 25. I think this 1m1f is his ideal trip, he is versatile ground wise, and there could be further improvement to come this year from this not yet fully exposed colt.

The 8 places available with SKYBET is a great offer but I have to mention that other bookmakers (BET365, Betfred, Betway, & Boylesports) are all offering the higher odds of 40/1 but BET365 are only paying the first 5 horses home while the other three are paying 6 places. From experience, we know it never hurts to have extra place insurance in these big Saturday afternoon handicap races on ITV4 particularly when there are 29-runners lining up. Good luck!

Jibber Jabber

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