Sky Bet Steve Birch Finale Handicap (Heritage Handicap) (GBBPlus Race)

Carries his head high but his profile has been progressive since cheekpieces have gone on and he produced a smart handicap performance when comfortably accounting for his 17 rivals over this trip at Glorious Goodwood (good) 25 days ago; his two other wins came on good to firm; an 8lb rise demands further improvement but no surprise were he to find it.

Good C&D record includes a win in this last year off 5lb higher; back on form when narrowly denied at Sandown (1m2f, good to firm) and things went wrong from the start (stumbled) when well behind Westridge at Goodwood since; could bounce back.

Really smart earlier in his career and showed he retains the vast majority of that ability after 12 months off when keeping on for fourth of 18 in the John Smith's Cup over C&D (good to firm) on his yard debut six weeks ago; fared comfortably the best of those who raced off the pace on that occasion so the effort can arguably be marked up; interesting to see if he can build on it.

Runner-up in the Cambridgeshire in 2023 and has returned from an unsuccessful stint in the US with three good in-frame efforts in top 1m handicaps this summer, while shaping as if this return to 1m2f may benefit him; high on the shortlist.

Third in last year's John Smith's Cup and posted another good effort over C&D when going down by only a head at the Dante meeting (good to firm) in May; lesser efforts have followed at Royal Ascot and Glorious Goodwood (eighth to Westridge) but that has resulted in him dropping back to the mark he ran off at the Dante meeting.