Leicester Preview: War Alert primed for battle

The lightly-raced and promising War Alert is held in high regard by connections and can make light of top weight to land the 6f nursery at Leicester today (3.40).

The David Brown trained filly shaped with bags of promise when third on debut at Windsor over 6f behind Son Of Africa, and the winner has gone on to land a competitive class 2 contest at Goodwood and is now officially rated 89.

The runner-up has also gone on to score to give the form a solid look, and it makes War Alert look potentially very well-treated in this class 4 contest off an opening mark of 79.

The daughter of War Front has had just one run since, and that saw her readily beat Disprove by 1/2 a length at Windsor despite not being suited by the drop back to 5f.

Connections considered running War Alert in the Group 2 Lowther Stakes at York on the back of that success, and the fact that she holds entries for the Group 2 Rockfel Stakes and the Group 1 Cheveley Park shows just how highly she is rated.

If War Alert is to justify those lofty aspirations, then she has to be winning this off 79 and the step back up to 6f looks sure to suit.

Trainer Henry Candy is in red-hot form at present, and Dalasi looks capable off providing him with another success on handicap debut in the 1m 2f contest that opens proceedings (2.10).

The filly caught the eye on her first two starts at Windsor, finishing fifth to Elusive Guest and then occupying the same position behind Mysthical Madness.

The daughter of Dalakhani was tenderly handled on both occasions, and although not at her best last time out looks to have been brought along with handicaps in mind.

If that is the case, then Dalasi could potentially make a mockey of an opening mark of 69 in what looks a weak class 5 contest.

Majestic Dream bounced back to form when runner-up last time out, and can take advantage of a lenient mark to go one better in the 6f handicap (5.40)

The Mick Easterby trained gelding is on a loing losing run, having not scored since landing a 7f contest at Wolverhampton in October 2012 off a mark of 67.