Newbury 3.00
London Cup over 10 Furlongs and a field packed with progressive 3 year olds. A lot have chances but logic and past performance tells me that John Gosden always has one ready for these big Saturday Handicaps and the fact he runs FOREST OF DEAN with an 8lbs handicap indicates that it can progress again and be very competitive here. This type of race can be run at a frenetic pace, similar to the 1 mile trip that many of these are more used too, so I look for something a bit battle hardened who can do something some of these won't have done very often, if at all, and that's slug it out off the bridle under pressure, that hurts and not all horses can deliver through the pain barrier. A Yard whose horses can deliver that type of effort time and time again in the Johnson yard and SKY DEFENDER looks tailor made for such a battle and is a sporting each way tip.