Markaz value to floor Angelic Lord

The progressive Markaz looks decent value to lower the colours of favourite Angelic Lord in the 6f conditions stakes at Doncaster today (2.30).

The Barry Hills trained colt shaped with plenty of promise on his first two starts when running very green, and still looked in need of the experience when winning at Ascot on his penultimate outing.

The son of Dark Angel, who is a brother to the useful sprinter Mecca’s Angel, was slowly away in that 6f contest before making smooth headway three from home and squeezing through to take up the running a furlong home to quicken clear and beat Fingal’s Cave by 1 1/4 lengths.

There was plenty to like about the way Markaz got the job done, and the fact he had little difficulty winning despite a slow start suggested the juvenile had a big engine.

That view was confirmed in a nursery at Goodwood, where after again being slowly away Markaz travelled strongly into the contest and closed all the way to the line to go down by just 1/2 a length to Son Of Africa.

Markaz still looks to be learning judged on that run, and it was an effort which suggested he would be capable of winning plenty more races when getting it right at the start.

That is something which didn’t happen last time out when Markaz got upset in the stalls and had to be withdrawn from a valuable sales race at York when heavily-backed beforehand.

To be fair, it was the fact that it took so long to load the big field that caused Markaz to get restless and he will not face the same wait in today’s small field and is definitely worth another chance.
The obvious danger is the Tom Dascombe trained Angelic Lord who sets the standard on his last two runs in Group 2 company.

The son of Dark Angel was beaten just 2 3/4 lengths by the Wow Signal when sixth in the Coventry Stakes at Royal Ascot and then stayed on to finish a fine fifth to Ivawood in the July Stakes at Newmarket when last seen in action.

Those are fine runs, and this represents a drop in class for Angelic Lord.

However, Angelic Lord’s odds reflect that and Markaz is an upwardly mobile sort who looks up to making his mark in this grade.