SWISS Affair appears to have been found an ideal opportunity to open her account at the third attempt in the Ivor Laws Memorial Maiden at Windsor.
Owned and bred by the successful Lordship Stud, the daughter of Pivotal is from an excellent sprinting family, with her siblings Swiss Diva, Swiss Spirit and Swiss Dream all Stakes-race winners during their careers.
Swiss Affair clearly has plenty to live up to, but made a more than decent start at Doncaster in the spring, filling the runner-up spot and finishing ahead of a few subsequent winners in the process.
With experience under her belt, it was no surprise to see John Gosden’s filly sent off a warm order on her second start at Lingfield and while she was ultimately unsuccessful, she went down fighting by a nose.
While the winner of that race Effectual has not yet resurfaced, Paint The Star, who was six lengths away in third, has won a couple of races since to boost the form.
Swiss Affair has not been seen since that race in early May, but she can be expected to be ready enough on her return to make it third time lucky.
Saeed bin Suroor’s Start Time looks a decent bet in the following R J Clyde Builders Nursery.
The daughter of Invincible Spirit is presumably not the most straightforward of individuals as after finishing a well-beaten second on her Brighton bow, she was fitted with a visor on her return to the seaside track a couple of weeks later.
The aid almost did the trick as she was beaten just a head and she made no mistake at Thirsk last month, winning decisively with cheek pieces this time the chosen headgear.
She starts off life in handicap company off a mark of 82 and should be up to winning off that rating in what looks a fairly ordinary heat.
The Godolphin trainer can also do punters a good turn at Pontefract, with Change The Game standing out like a sore thumb in the opening RacingUK Sky Channel 432/British Stallion Studs EBF Maiden.
The American-bred youngster was a hot favourite for his Wolverhampton debut little over a fortnight ago, but virtually blew his chances when the gates opened as he badly missed the start.
Considering he was also green during the race, it is testament to his talent that he was eventually beaten just three-quarters of a length into second place and normal improvement will make him hard to beat in West Yorkshire.
Mr Kite gets the nod in the RacingUK Club Day 19th October Bluff Cove Handicap for Mick Channon.
A dominant all-the-way winner of a Market Rasen bumper in the summer, the four-year-old has shaped pretty well in each of his three starts under Flat rules over a mile-and-a-half.
He takes a significant step up in distance to two and a quarter miles for his handicap debut and an opening rating of 74 seems very workable indeed.
