Slowly into stride, held up last, headway between horses inside final 2f, soon hung left on camber, ridden over 1f out, went 2nd inside final furlong, no chance with winner tchd 9/4
Sweating, chased leaders in 4th, ridden and unable to quicken over 2f out, plugged on inside final furlong pressing for modest 3rd tchd 2/1 and tchd 5/2
Kings Shield (9/4), Aurum (5/2), Lake Volta (3/1), Tadbir (5/1), Rufus King (9/1), Arrogant (25/1)
KINGS SHIELD ran well in the French Guineas last time out and given his speedy pedigree, he could be hard to beat down in trip back in Listed class here. Aurum is unexposed and likely to improve again after a promising effort in Listed class at Newmarket on just his second start while Lake Volta could be the surprise package significantly up in trip with De Sousa back on board; he's narrowly preferred to Rufus King from the remainder.