ULTRA Violet could be a vulnerable favourite in the Sweet Solera Stakes at Newmarket this afternoon. She looked very good in winning her maiden over six furlongs at today’s course at the end of June, but, while she was visually impressive, the race is not working out as well as you would have liked. The time of the race wasn’t great, and she raced flush against the stands’ side rail. She may have been a little flattered by the visual impression.

She should improve from that run, her racecourse debut, and she is a really likeable filly, but this is a solid race, and she may be shorter than she should be.

Burst clear

Dalanijujo and Soffika are both, like the favourite, once-raced winners, and Ananya burst clear to win an auction stakes impressively over this course and distance last month. The key to this race may lie in the listed race at Sandown two weeks ago that Walk In Marrakesh won.

Light Blush finished second that day, in front of Romsey and West End Girl, but there are reasons for believing that West End Girl can reverse placings with those two fillies.

Mark Johnston’s filly was keen through the early stages of that race. She was restrained after they had gone a furlong behind her stable companion Walk In Marrakesh, on whom Frankie Dettori set fractions to suit his own filly, and she probably expended more energy than she needed to through the early part of the race.

The Golden Horn filly came under pressure early enough, but there was a lot to like about the manner in which she battled on in among horses. Light Blush and Romsey both passed her inside the two-furlong marker, but she was coming back deep inside the final furlong when she ran out of racing room. Her rider had to snatch up close home, but for which she would have finished much closer than she did.

As it was, she only finished a length and a half behind Light Blush and a half a length behind Romsey.

She is the only Mark Johnston representative in the race today, so there is a chance that Franny Norton will allow her stride on. She was held up when she won a novices’ stakes at Haydock on her racecourse debut, but she was ridden prominently at Sandown, for all that she didn’t lead. She would surely have done better than she did that day had she been allowed lead. Also, Newmarket’s July Course is a speed-favouring track. A prominent style of racing is a positive there.

As a bonus, she is drawn in stall one and, with the stalls set to be placed on the stands’ side, there is a chance that she will be able to bounce out and bag the lead and the near rail. If she can do that, she could take a lot of catching.

Haydock runners

Addeybb sets a high standard in the Rose of Lancaster Stakes at Haydock. Now that the rains have come, he is the one that they all have to beat.

That said, Pondus should probably be closer to William Haggas’ horse in the betting than he is. James Fanshawe’s horse is also proven on soft ground, he battled on well to win a novices’ stakes at Nottingham over 10 furlongs in May.

Of course, this is a massive step up from a novices’ stakes at Nottingham, but that race is working out really well. The second and third, Dubai Falcon and Qarasu, both won next time out, while the fourth horse, Aktau, whom Pondus easily beat next time at Sandown as well, was an impressive winner of a competitive handicap at Goodwood last Friday off a mark of 84. He is now rated 92.

Pondus himself was well beaten in the King Edward VII Stakes at Royal Ascot, but he ran well last time at Newbury to finish second to Fox Chairman in the Listed Steventon Stakes.

Classy

Fox Chairman is a classy individual, he finished second to the high-class Sangarius in the Hampton Court Stakes at Royal Ascot, when he didn’t have the ideal run through the race, on his last run before the Steventon Stakes. And Pondus closed on him all the way to the line, going down by just a length in the end and pulling clear of the rest of the field.

Pondus is going to have to improve on that run if he is going to get close to Addeybb, but he only has 9lbs to find on official ratings, and he is progressive enough to make that within range. He is only three, and he has raced just five times in his life. Three-year-olds have won three of the last four renewals of this race.

He stays a mile and a half, so 10 and a half furlongs on soft ground should bring his stamina into play, and he could give Addeybb a real race.

Raise You is a player, he is another progressive horse, and Wissahickon is talented, but he has been off the track since April and the ground will surely be softer than ideal for him.

Recommended

Pondus, 1 point win, 3.05 Haydock, 9/2 (generally)

West End Girl, 1 point win, 3.45 Newmarket, 11/2 (generally)