YOU can see why Winter Power is a warm order for the Group 2 Cazoo Temple Stakes at Haydock today. Tim Easterby’s filly was a high-class juvenile, and she was one of the top sprinters last season as a three-year-old, as evidenced by the performance that she put up in winning the Nunthorpe Stakes at York in August.

Also, she won a listed race at York on her debut last season, so we know that she can go well fresh, on her seasonal debut.

But she is short, and she was well beaten in her last two races last season, in the Flying Five at the Curragh and in the Prix de l’Abbaye at Longchamp.

Idiosyncratic track

Also, the best three runs over her life have been at York, her Nunthorpe Stakes win and two listed race wins. York is an idiosyncratic track at which course form often counts for more than it does at other tracks, and Winter Power still has to prove that she can be as good away from York as she is there.

Of course, she may well be as good at Haydock as she is at York, she has never raced at the Lancashire track, but it is an imponderable, and it is a significant enough imponderable to allow you take her on at short odds.

Came From The Dark was very good last season, and he is a three-time course winner, but he has to leave a disappointing seasonal debut run in the Palace House Stakes behind him and, at a bigger price, King’s Lynn may be a better betting proposition.

Andrew Balding’s horse was beaten on his seasonal debut too, in a conditions race at Chester’s May meeting, but elements conspired against him that day.

Slowly away from his inside draw, he was keener than ideal through the early stages of the race, and he was wider than ideal around the home turn.

In the end, he did well to keep on as well as he did to take second place behind Flaming Rib, who enjoyed a much smoother passage through the race.

A little weak in the market that day, there is every chance that King’s Lynn will progress from that run. He progressed nicely through last season after finishing a close-up third behind Came From The Dark in a handicap at Newbury on his seasonal return, running some big races, including finishing a close-up third in the Wokingham at Royal Ascot and finishing second behind Vadream in the Group 3 Bengough Stakes at Ascot in October, before rounding off the season by winning a listed race on soft ground at Doncaster over six furlongs.

Five furlongs

He is at least as effective over five furlongs, as he proved when he won a listed race at Haydock last May, keeping on well to get home by a neck from Moss Gill. That is his only run to date at Haydock, he is one for one at the track, over today’s course and distance, and this race has probably been his early season target for a while.

He is the joint second highest-rated horse in the race, and he could out-run his odds by a fair way.

Progressive Outgate

Outgate could also out-run his odds in the Cazoo Silver Bowl earlier in the day. A progressive juvenile last season, he put up a good performance on his debut this season at Newmarket when, racing over a mile for the first time, he did well to keep on as well as he did on the far side to take second place behind the impressive winner Tranquil Night.

Raised by 3lb for that to a mark of 88, he stepped forward from that last time in winning a good handicap at Chester, over seven and a half furlongs.

He may not have received due credit for that performance, given that a lot of the post-race attention was centred on the runner-up Koy Koy, who didn’t have an ideal run through the race. But Outgate won well, he took another step forward.

Raised by 5lb by the handicapper for that win to a mark of 93, he is probably going to have to step forward again if he is going to win today, but he goes into the race in good form, and he is on a nice upward trajectory. He is another who is one for one at Haydock, he won a nursery there in September, and he could run well at a decent price.

Recommended

Outgate, 1pt win, 2.35 Haydock, 11/1 (generally)

King’s Lynn, 1pt win, 3.45 Haydock, 13/2 (generally)