No Use Pretending !

Pretend made a mug of me the other week when showing improved form and today he goes for his hat trick of wins in the 3.10 at Chelmsford over 6f.
It's only the Godolphin owned geldings seventh start and on his performances in December at Wolverhampton he should take all the beating.
His first win, when beating Boom The Groom and Secondo, was a good an all weather sprint as you can get and although there are a few in the field who are capable of improvement such as Fear Or Favour, Guishan and Fairway To Heaven(in that order) you would hope that the all weather experience he has gained and his race fitness will be enough to see him home.
Clive Cox's Fear Or Favour could be favourably handicapped as he finished second to Eastern Impact on his last start at Newmarket in May after which he obviously had a problem. Eastern Impact then went on to run very well in two very competitive 3yo handicaps and as this is only Fear Or Favours 6th start he could be a thorn in the side of Pretend.
Guishan won over the course and distance last time is another improver but she maybe destined for minor honours today.

Selections
Pretend to win - 2/1 Ladbrokes
Fear or Favour ew 11/2 William Hill and Paddy Power

On another note there have been several conversations on social media since the weekend about whether Dynaste should go for the Gold Cup. His trial at the weekend was as good as any we have seen, granted he didn't win but there was less than two lengths separating the first 3 and any comments about him not staying the trip are nonsense. If Dynaste had won and Many Clouds had finished 3rd would we be saying he didn't stay ? I don't think so.
We don't question winning distances over sprint distances and yet we quibble over 3m+ when one gets beat narrowly in a driving finish - different day different result in my view.

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Well it just goes to show, you can never presume anything in racing - who would have forecast Trojan Rocket the winner of a Class 6 handicap race two starts ago winning a Class 2 at 20/1 and the second at 33/1, making an exacta payout of £385.60 a CSF of £527.69 and the trifecta of £3,119.90 !!.
This was the highest rating the winner had ever won off at the age of 7 and his owners must have been over the moon !
Pretend was unfortunately all at sea at this track.