The Jef­fery Ross Rac­ing Spe­cial

Weath­er con­di­tions are cur­rent­ly caus­ing prob­lems and not sur­pris­ing­ly, Kemp­ton stages the on­ly meet­ing to­day, a six-race all-weath­er pro­gramme which of­fers a cou­ple of 'alf-de­cent bets, Star­watch and Cross Sec­tion in the ju­ve­nile events. Star­watch has twice failed to de­liv­er the goods but ran fourth both times and re­mains on a win­ning mark. Drawn well in the sev­en fur­longs nurs­ery, John Bridger's charge is worth chanc­ing again, with Marc Hal­ford claim­ing his 3lbs ap­pren­tice al­lowance. Hope­ful­ly, Marc will grab the ini­tia­tive and at­tempt toi make the run­ning. Twelve oth­ers will be hard-pressed to catch him, if Star­watch hits any­thing like his con­sis­tent time-hand­i­cap marks.

Twice-raced Prince Yarra­man could go one bet­ter in the Maid­en Auc­tion Stakes over a mile, the de­fin­i­tive each-way bet, with three places on of­fer. Prince Yarra­man failed to im­prove for de­but ex­pe­ri­ence over this course when run­ner-up at South­well nine days ago. Prob­a­bly, the 'deep stuff' didn't suit Jamie Os­borne's charge and it's in­ter­est­ing and in­trigu­ing to view him, back on poly­track.

Cross Sec­tion is the best-bet in the Maid­en Stakes over a mile and the time-com­par­i­son with Prince Yarra­man and co should prove in­for­ma­tive. Cross Sec­tion left it be­hind, when backed to favouritism ear­li­er this month. He, too, failed to hit a mark achieved on this course pre­vi­ous­ly. We're bank­ing on him re­pro­duc­ing his best ef­fort, why not?

SE­LEC­TIONS

10.45: STAR­WATCH (e.w.)

1.15: PRINCE YARRA­MAN (e.w.)

11.45: CROSS SEC­TION (nap)