Wolverhampton Preview: Romance can blossom in nursery

Trainer Saeed Bin Suroor has a tremendous strike rate with his runners at Wolverhampton, and Romance Story holds leading claims of further enhancing it in the 1m 1f nursery there this evening (7.50).

The Newmarket handler has been successful with 39% of his runners at the the venue in the past 12 months, saddling nine winners and eight placed horses from 29 runners.

In Romance Story he has a filly who shaped well in her first three starts in maidens and improved when stepped up in trip to finish runner-up on handicap debut at Chepstow two starts back.

The daughter of New Approach kept on nicely from the rear of the field to be beaten 1 3/4 lengths after being given plenty to do and finished in front of two of this evening’s rivals.

Romance Story then ran far better than the finishing position suggests last time out in a class 5 nursery at Nottingham when racing prominently until getting outpaced two from home and finding herself short of room before finishing seventh of 11 to Maftoon.

Jockey Franny Norton took things easy once it was clear Romance Story would not be winning, and she now drops down into class 6 company off what looks a handy mark of 65.

Connections are also fitting Romance Story with the cheek-pieces for the first time, and with Kevin Stott’s claim taking a further 5lb of her back, she looks weighted to take all the beating if the headgear has the desired effect.

In the opening 6f handicap (5.45), Al’s Memory can take advantage of a drop in the weights to get back on the winning trail.

The David Evans trained gelding is a six-time winner on the all-weather surface, and has won three times over this evening’s trip.

The five-year-old’s last success came over 7f at this venue back in November 2013, where he showed plenty of pace to race prominently throughout and ran on strongly to beat Living The Life by a neck off a mark of 80 in a class 4 contest.
Al’s Memory is now able to run off 10lb lower, and that makes him dangerously well-treated on the pick of his form.