The Sean and Jake Casey trained Aberdeen Flyer will attempt to land back-to-back feature race wins he tackles the Listed Melvista Stakes over 2200m at Ascot on Wednesday.
The son of Astern scored his first win in seven starts when taking out the Listed J C Roberts Stakes over 1800m with that win coming on the back of two momentum building runs which saw him finish in third place, just 0.12 lengths back, in the Listed Challenge Stakes over 1500m … and then in second place in the Listed Lex Piper Stakes over 1600m.
In the J C Roberts win, Aberdeen Flyer had the Grant and Alana Williams trained Sentimental Legend 0,59 lengths behind him in second place. The two had joined issue halfway up the home straight with Aberdeen Flyer finding the extra required to be able to edge clear over the final 150m to beat a game Sentimental Legend, who never stopped trying.
Aberdeen Flyer and Sentimental Legend will clash again in the Melvista Stakes and it would be no surprise to see them fight out the finish, although both runners have yet to be tested beyond 1800m.
It is important to note that, Aberdeen Flyer comes into the Melvista 2kg worse off at the weights with not only Sentimental Legend, but all of his six rivals (56kg to 54kg) as a consequence of securing that Listed win in the J C Roberts.
That group of six, apart from Sentimental Legend, includes another Grant and Alana Williams trained runner in the form of the last start winner Maiden winner, Wynn Las Vegas … and the Trevor Andrews trained Dominatus, who narrowly beat Aberdeen Flyer home in the Challenge Stakes, but who has finished behind the Sean and Jake Casey trained runner in two subsequent starts.
Of the remaining three runners, Hey True Blue was comfortably beaten out of the placings in both the Lex Piper and j C Roberts. Farado has yet to win a race in nine starts. Carentan is still winless after six starts.
The betting reflects the seeming imbalance in quality of the runners facing the starter.
Sentimental Flyer tops the bookies odds at $2.10 ahead of Aberdeen Flyer ($2,60) while, at the other end of the scale, you have the Maiden runners Carentan and Farado quoted at $41 and $91 respectively.
