Q20 Boy & Shades of May run in the six furlong Apprentice Handicap; and Meisterzinger & Lumberjack both run in the fourteen furlong jobbie.

The draw is one issue in the Apprentice Handicap and Q20 Boy in an excellent berth in two has an advantage over SofM in nine; and another significant factor in working out which of the two will come out on top is that, for the ft since January last year, Q20 Boy is on a mark beneath 50, 49; and this gives him the best theoretical chance at the weights in the entire field with the one exception of Time Patrol who has a pound or perhaps two in hand; on what they have achieved on the racecurse (and with the draw) you would expect Q20 Boy to come out on top; the difficulty is in how much improvement SofM is going to make; because he seems certain to make some as an unexposed five year old and he has progressed in each of his three runs in Maiden company; hard to call but both seem to be fairly (and to some extent well) handicapped and both should not be far away; the correct response is probably two small ew singles and an equally small rfc the two.

The staying handicap isn't really any easier to call; Meisterzinger has not, quite, recaptured his best form ex a year and a half off the track; and, although he ran respectably on his second start back at Kempton at the beginning of December he was disappointing on his third comeback run a fortnight later; but he has been eased back another three pounds and is a well handicapped horse if he can get back to his Summer 2023 form. Lumberjack took a real step forward when running so well to be second over the c&d just before Chrimbo and up just one pound for that has a clear and competitive ew chance if he can just build on that slightly; the nines and tens this morning understate this and probably the correct additional response is to have a small ew dabble at those prices and tie him in ew with Q20 Boy and SofM; hard to predict Meisterzinger but the other three should all run well and all three have competitive chances.

Arlecchino's Gift goes to Lingfield tomorrow afternoon under David; and Tomorrow Day goves back to his favourite Newcastle tomorrow evening.