Pontefract 2:38 Result

This looks a modest 2yo novice with only What A Girl Wants having a proven handicap-standard mark (77) and consistent recent form (220443), while the rest are lightly raced types stepping up in class of race but not necessarily ability. However, What A Girl Wants has already run 6 times and looks fully exposed at a fairly low level, having not won since two runs back and finishing 4th/4th/3rd most recently - she's treading water rather than improving, and hood first time suggests they're trying something to freshen her up, which is more a concern than a positive. Ashina, by contrast, is a filly by Persian Force (an emerging sprint sire) out of a Sea The Stars-line dam, trained by David O'Meara who is excellent with developing 2yo speed types. Her form figures 63 are deceptive on paper but represent solid experience without asking too many questions - a 6th and a 3rd, likely both in useful company judging by the yard. Cieren Fallon takes over, a jockey with a good strike rate for in-form yards. She gets a nice couple of pounds from the geldings/colts (128 vs 133) and the drop back to a stronger field with fitness in the tank could see fair improvement now she has experience under her belt. The unraced pair (Albert Mooney, a well-bred Mehmas gelding for the Quinns, and others) are unknowns, and while Mehmas is a precocious sprint sire, debut novices at Pontefract over 6f in a small stakes race are hard to trust blind versus battle-tested types. I'll oppose the vulnerable favourite What A Girl Wants and take Ashina as the improving type with a leading yard/jockey combo who I think outruns her recent finishing positions now.