Wolverhampton Preview: Lawyer gets the verdict

A new era gets underway today with Wolverhampton staging it’s first meeting on the Tapeta Surface, and Lawyer looks to hold leading claims of landing the 1m 1f handicap (4.45).

The Luca Cumani trained gelding is unbeaten in two runs at the venue, and is just 5lb higher than when readily beating St Paul De Vance in a mile contest at Windsor on his penultimate start.

Lawyer stayed on strongly to win going away by 1 3/4 lengths, and it was an effort which suggested that the step up to this afternoon’s trip could well bring about further improvement.

Although the son of Acclamation disappointed when last seen in action at Newmarket, that was a class 3 contest run at a slow pace which didn’t suit and the drop back down to class 4 company is likely to see Lawyer in a far better light.

Imaginary World had been running well prior to disappointing last time out, but is fancied to bounce back and land the 7f handicap (3.45) now eased in grade.
The John Balding trained mare had finished in the frame four times before finishing just eighth of 10 in a warm class 4 contest at Doncaster and will find this class 5 contest much more to her liking.

In the last of those, the daughter of Exceed And Excel came a solid 2 3/4 length third of 10 to The Great Gabrial in a class 4 contest at Southwell off a rating of 69.

The six-year-old now gets into this lower grade affair off the same mark, and that should enable Imaginary World to be really competitive.

In the 1m 4f handciap that closes proceedings (5.15), Cousin Khee looks weighted to take all the beating now dropped in class.

The Hughie Morrison trained gelding won three times in the first half of last year, with the last of those successes coming in a class 4 contest at York off a mark of 79.

The seven-year-old went on to finish in the frame of ratings of 81 and 84, and now runs off just 74.

That is 5lb lower than when last successful, and gives Cousin Khee a massive chance from a handicapping perspective now pitched into class 5 company for the first time in his career.