Haydock Preview: Madeed poised to exploit drop in class

Madeed has been knocking on the door in decent handicaps and can take advantage of a drop in grade to score a deserved success in the 1m 2f contest at Haydock today (5.20).

The Brian Meehan trained colt posted a cracking effort when second home in his group and finishing a close up seventh of 30 to Born In Bombay in the ultra-competitive class 2 Britannia Stakes at Royal Ascot, and backed that up with a solid lengtth third to Lyn Valley in a similar grade affair over 1m 2f at Goodwood.

The three-year-old got put up 4lb for the latter, but showed that his current mark of 93 was exploitable when a fine runner-up to The Corsican last time out at Goodwood in another class 2 contest.

The son of Nayef looked a bit of an unlucky loser, being forced wide on the bend and encountering traffic problems before going down by a diminishing 1 1/2 lengths.

It was a very good effort given how the race panned out, and a repeat will make him Madeed very hard to beat now dropped down into class 3 company off an unchanged mark.

In the 6f sprint (3.00), everything suggests Can You Conga is the one to beat.

The filly had a progressive profile last year when trained by Kevin Ryan, opening her account at the third time of asking when beating Floating Along at Doncaster by 3/4 of a length before going on to land a class 2 contest at Newmarket off a mark of 84.

The daughter of Piccolo was put up to 88 for that success, and subsequently joined the shrewd training outfit of Mick Easterby for the start of this campaign.

Can You Conga has taken time to come to hand in five runs for her new handler, but signalled that her time was near when an eye-catching eighth of 18 to Compton Park in a class 3 contest at Thirsk last time out from an unfavourable draw.

The four-year-old now gets into this lower grade class 4 contest of the same mark of 83, which is 1lb lower than when last successful.

It gives Can You Conga major claims from a handicapping perspective, especially if the fitting of the cheekpieces for the first time have the desired effect.