Strange weekend, this weekend. Cheltenham and Aintree are over, the Punchestown ducks are only just beginning to get themselves into a row, and the flat season hasn’t really cranked through too many of its many gears yet.

Even so, there is some interesting flat racing at Leopardstown on Sunday – there are potential Classic pointers aplenty via the Ballysax Stakes and the Guineas Trials – and at Doncaster on Saturday afternoon. The Doncaster Mile is interesting, but it looks like Highland Knight and Sovereign Debt are going to be disputing favouritism, and it is difficult to argue that they aren’t the two most likely winners of the race.

The big six-furlong handicap due off at 3.30 presents a better betting opportunity, with Jack Dexter and Move In Time both looking over-priced in the early market indicators at 6/1 and 9/1 respectively.

Jack Dexter is top weight and he is favourite, but he is potentially a Group horse this season, he deserves to be top weight in a 0-110 handicap, and he is the 6/1 favourite in the early skirmishes. I would have him in at least a point and a half shorter than that.

Jim Goldie’s horse was a hugely progressive performer towards the end of last season, his form suggesting that he was equally adept at five, six and seven furlongs. However, you suspect that six furlongs is his optimum trip, he has pace and he has a finishing kick over that trip, and it was difficult not to be impressed with the performance that he put up in winning the Cammidge Trophy on Lincoln day over that distance on his debut this term.

Well-backed beforehand, he travelled through that race like a high-class horse, he picked up impressively when Graham Lee gave him a squeeze, hitting the front inside the final furlong and then idling through the final 200 yards. He only got home by a half a length in the end from Captain Ramius, but Kevin Ryan’s horse was strong in the market himself and, last year’s Ayr Gold Cup winner set a high standard in the race.

Graham Lee only had to push Jack Dexter out with hands and heels, just showing him the whip, and he left the impression that he was winning with an awful lot more in hand than the bare winning margin. You can certainly easily argue that he won with more in hand than the 7lb hike with which he was rewarded as a result.

The son of Orientor has now won four of his last five races, two of them over six furlongs and two of them at Doncaster. Genuinely fast ground wouldn’t be ideal, but he did run well on good to firm ground to finish fourth in a good handicap at York last September, so it wouldn’t be a disaster. Good ground would be fine, and anything easier would be a bonus.

Jack Dexter has raced just 12 times in his life, and there is no telling how high he could go this season as a sprinter. A draw in stall nine is good, it means he is in the middle and that Lee should be able to track the pace, wherever it is, and Jim Goldie’s horse should be able to continue his progression by going close on Saturday.

Move In Time should also go close, and he is just as interesting as Jack Dexter at a bigger price. A progressive sprinter for Bryan Smart two seasons ago as a three-year-old, when he rounded off the season by winning a listed race over five furlongs at Ascot, he was wholly disappointing last season. He didn’t win at all in eight attempts. He didn’t even get close. In fact, with the exception of his seasonal debut, when he wasn’t beaten that far by Mayson in the Palace House Stakes, his season was a complete write-off.

Gelded since then and moved from Bryan Smart to David O’Meara, he bounced back to form by running out a really impressive winner of an admittedly not very high-class contest at Musselburgh on his only run to date this term. The handicapper has raised him by a whopping 10lb for that, but the upside of his disappointing 2012 season is that he had dropped down to a mark of 85. His new mark of 95 is still 7lb lower than his peak mark.

As a five-year-old who has run 26 times, he doesn’t look like an obviously progressive sprinter. However, he may not need to be progressive. He only has to run to his old mark of 102 to give himself a real chance of winning this. Not only is there every chance that he could reach that level of performance now but, given that he has been gelded and switched yards, there is even a chance that he could better it.

There is a chance that he is better over five furlongs than over six, but that may be because most of his running has been over the minimum trip. He won his maiden over six furlongs, and he appeared to get stronger as the race progressed at Musselburgh last time. He should have no difficulty over six furlongs. He could even improve for the extra furlong as a five-year-old.

His sire Monsieur Bond improved with age – he won the Gladness Stakes and the Duke of York Stakes as a four-year-old – and there is a chance that Move In Time could put last year’s disappointment behind him and reach his peak this season as a sprinter at five.

Hitchens and York Glory and Duke Of Firenze are all dangers but, at current prices, and each with a win under his belt already this term, Jack Dexter and Move In Time are the ones who look over-priced.


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