Blaze of glory: Emblazoned to light up Hackwood Stakes after brilliant Royal Ascot third
John Gosden's three-year-old is a sprinter going places and can take Newbury's competitive Group 3
EMBLAZONED can fire up a blaze in Saturday's Hackwood Stakes at Newbury.
The progressive sprinter ran a cracker to finish third in the Commonwealth Cup.
John Gosden has the key to yet another big Saturday race with his unexposed pocket rocket, who is a sprinter going places.
The speedball went off largely unfancied for the Commonwealth Cup at Royal Ascot, but showed the market was wrong to underestimate him as he only lost the lead well inside the final furlong, eventually finishing third.
Now given a short break and faced with a slightly less taxing finish, this is the time for the son of Invincible Spirit to really show what he's made of.
Two runs over six furlongs on good to firm ground have so far yielded an impressive novice stakes win and a Royal Ascot third, and given those conditions once more they'll all have to go to catch him.
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His one run in between was in the Sandy Lane Stakes where he finished behind Sands Of Mali and Invincible Army.
However, that effort can be marked up because he came from the rear, whereas both the front two were first and second throughout.
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It can often be very difficult to peg back leaders on the sprint course at Haydock, and that is exactly what happened that day.
Based on his general profile, I'd expect Emblazoned to improve markedly once again, and in this slightly weaker contest he should be able to hold on at the head affairs.
However, he will be facing some tough opponents.
Equilateral, current ante-post favourite for the race, was ultra impressive at Doncaster on his seasonal debut and went off at the head of the market for the Commonwealth Cup.
He bombed out there though, and while he clearly has potential, he needs to prove he can mix it with the best.
Projection is another dropping in class from Group 1 level to Group 3.
He was taking on the big boys in the Diamond Jubilee at Royal Ascot and produced a cracking effort in fifth position.
He hasn't won since his two-year-old days though, and that spells worry.
Bacchus downed hotpot Dreamfield in the Wokingham, flying down the outside to deny the Godolphin horse glory.
The runner-up has since run with credit in the July Cup, and Brian Meehan's four-year-old wouldn't need to improve much to stake a hand here. He's not the most consistent though, and could be tapped for a bit of toe considering how well he stayed on at Ascot.
Others worth a mention are Invincible Army, Yafta, Top Score and Mythmaker.
However, they'll all need to go to catch Emblazoned.