Newcastle

Making her racecourse debut today, so there is no form to judge her on — everything is unknown. What we do know is that her jockey and trainer work together and win roughly 1 in 4 races as a team, which is an encouraging partnership to be in for a first run. She's bred to get better as she races more and over longer distances, so today is very much a learning exercise.

Like Danseuse, Hello Friend has never set foot on a racecourse before, so this is pure guesswork — but she's bred from Frankel, widely considered the greatest racehorse of his generation, and her trainer Karl Burke wins roughly 1 in 6 races. Debut horses can absolutely win first time out, but they can just as easily need the experience, and without any form to go on, you're essentially backing the breeding and the trainer's reputation.

Ticker Tape is trained by the Gosden team, one of the most successful operations in British racing, and her jockey Robert Havlin wins roughly 1 in 5 races in this partnership — both are strong credentials. She finished fourth at Lingfield last time out, beaten less than two lengths, which is closer than it sounds and puts her well in the mix here. The editorial verdict flags her as the main threat to the favourite Littlecote, so she's the one to watch if you think the market has this wrong.

The oldest horse in the field at four, Maneater has dropped two class levels from where she usually competes — which sounds encouraging, but she hasn't raced in six months and that is the longest absence of anyone here. She has placed in both career races, so she's shown she can compete, but coming back from a long break on a surface where she finished third last time out raises real questions about whether she'll be sharp enough on the day.