Matt Brocklebank is back in the hot-seat with his best bets from around the tracks on Thursday.
Testing ground is a bit of an unknown but FAIRY GLEN - a daughter of Farhh, out of a Dubawi mare - promises to be perfectly comfortable in the conditions based on breeding and Simon and Ed Crisford's filly is one to follow. She won a couple of all-weather novice events earlier in the year and has taken the step up to Listed level in her stride, finishing third at Newmarket and beaten a short-head at Longchamp early last month. She stayed the mile and three-quarter trip really well in France, just missing out to Aidan O'Brien's Lily Hart who made all the running, and any further improvement from this progressive stayer would make her very difficult to beat.
MAGICAL ESCAPE might represent a spot of value against likely favourite Florencethemachine here, the latter making her chasing debut for Paul Nicholls after a promising enough novice hurdle campaign. Magical Escape also showed real potential last term, taking a little while to warm to jumping before winning his final two starts at Chepstow and Ffos Las in the spring. He clearly just needed a proper test of stamina to bring out the best in him and, with little or no pace pressure in this line-up, Ciaran Gethings might be able to dictate the pace he likes out in front on Kim Bailey's newcomer to fences. He's certainly built for the job (Trabolgan features on the dam's side of his pedigree), is unexposed as a stayer and the stable had a handicap chase winner at Huntingdon on Tuesday so fitness might not be much of an issue first time up.
ROUSING ENCORE clearly isn't the horse he was for Richard Fahey, having finished a fair sixth in Bradsell's Coventry Stakes in 2022, but after losing his way last term and recently switching stables to join Ruth Carr, the son of Acclamation has shaped better on his last couple of outings. The half-length second to unexposed three-year-old Jonny Concrete last time out at Ayr represented a genuine step in the right direction and he has to be of interest running off the same mark (78) back over the same course and distance on Thursday.
There was something quite striking about the way LIOSA swept home to win at Kempton last month and, although it was hardly a shock given he was sent off 6/4 favourite there following a couple of runner-up efforts at Wolverhampton, it definitely looks like he's improving. The son of The Last Lion has now won two of his six all-weather outings and providing he takes to the track here at Southwell, he could be well up to defying a 7lb rise in the ratings.
LOCAL MUSIC lacks a recent run but has always gone well fresh in the past and looks worth chancing back over seven furlongs having just raced a fraction too keenly when second over a mile here when last seen in July. She'd bolted up over this trip at Lingfield the time before and although now fully 10lb higher than for that victory, she's not fully exposed and should get a nice set-up here as despite being drawn wide, there is loads of early speed elsewhere and the pace could collapse late on.
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