GYTO Wednesday Notebook Double

I loved the way SECRET GUEST won at Doncaster last month. This son of Havana Grey was ridden quietly but once woken up by Ray Dawson picked his way through impressively and stayed on strongly to draw clear in the closing stages. The handicapper has reacted raising him 7lb from that but that is understandable such was the promise of that win and with more to come I think he is well placed to follow up. Funny Story is a nice looking grey and she won 2 from 4 as a 2yo. She returned with an encouraging run when fourth at Newmarket and if building on that looks the one to give the selection most to think about. Spirit Of Applause also arrives in winning form but the second Big R ran really poorly at Windsor on Monday night so the form has been rather letdown since so he might need more up 7lb from that.

Ludmilla will probably prove popular here as she does look to be improving with each start but EXIMIOUS might be worth chancing against her. This Exceed And Excel filly was a big eye-catcher when runner-up on debut and she built on that promise to win readily at Salisbury. Things didn’t go her way pitched into the Group 2 Rockfel next time and I think you can put a line through that. Given plenty of time since she is likely to have improved a fair bit over the winter and we could see a much better performance now. An opening mark of 87 isn’t a given on handicap debut but she still possesses plenty of potential so perhaps understandable. Discretion travelled well before going down just under 3 lengths at Kempton on return and if she improves on that first start for nearly a year she is another one that could get competitive.