DUTY Of Care hasn’t had a lot of luck in-running of late. Three runs ago, in a two-mile handicap at Kempton in early February, he had to make his ground widest of all into the home straight, and while he had no answer to the finishing kick of the winner Citizen General, who enjoyed a ground-saving run around the home turn, he kept on well to finish a clear second.

On his penultimate run, in a two-mile handicap at Lingfield in early March, he was slowly away from stall 12, he was back in the field early on and he was very wide again around the first two turns.

No less than three or four horse-widths off the inside rail for the first circuit and a half, widest of all, he made ground down the outside from the top of the back straight to lead the field by the time they reached the end of the back straight.

He led from there until they got into the home straight, but it wasn’t surprising that he was passed inside the two-furlong marker as his early exertions took their toll.

Then last time at Newcastle, he was slowly away from a very wide draw, he was in rear for much of the race before staying on late to take sixth place in a race in which the winner was prominent from early. It was a race in which it was difficult for the hold-up horses to get involved, as evidenced by the winner’s finishing speed percentage of over 110% of overall speed.

Draw query

Jamie Osborne’s horse is obviously not well drawn today in the Virgin Bet Queen’s Prize at Kempton, 14 of 14, and the first turn comes up quite quickly after the two-mile start at Kempton. He has not been well drawn, however, in any of his four races on all-weather since last summer (10, nine, 12 and 13) and he is a hold-up horse anyway, Saffie Osborne will probably be looking to tuck in from that wide draw.

Two significant elements in his favour today. Firstly, there is plenty of potential pace in the race. Favourite Sweet Fantasy likes to go forward, as do Circuit Breaker and Manu Et Corde and Solent Gateway, while Novel Legend and Island Brave usually race prominently. It would be surprising if there were not a good solid pace on early, and that could help Duty Of Care lots.

And secondly, he is back at Kempton, where he has put up some of the best performances of his career. He has raced at Kempton eight times, two of his three all-weather wins have been gained there, and four of those eight runs are up there among the best five performances of his life on Racing Post Ratings.

And Saffie Osborne takes the ride for the first time. There are lots of positives, and he could out-run his odds by a fair way.

Roseberry fancy

Youthful King could out-run his odds too in the Rosebery Handicap 35 minutes earlier. Luke Dace’s horse made all the running in winning twice at Windsor last summer, off marks of 78 and 85 respectively, but he was well beaten in a 0-105 handicap at Kempton in January when he tried to make all the running again.

Held up from wide draws in each of his last two races, both over 10 furlongs at Lingfield, he finished off his race well on both occasions to finish in the money.

He faces some relatively unexposed rivals today, but he is a talented individual, he is obviously versatile in terms of tactics, and he has shaped better than the bare form of the run has suggested in each of his last two runs.

He goes into today’s race in good form, this 11-furlong trip is a good trip for him, and there could be another handicap in him off this mark of 90, just 5lb higher than the turf mark off which he won at Windsor during the summer.

Youthful King 2.40 Kempton - 1pt win at 9/1 (generally)

Duty Of Care 3.15 Kempton - 1pt win at 8/1 (generally)