Portland Handicap Preview: Rex to turn up the heat on Town Moor

Doncaster will host the Portland Handicap on Saturday.

Timeform's Matt Gardner looks ahead to the final day of Doncaster's St Leger meeting, encompassing both the main event itself and the Portland Handicap...

Without wanting to give the St Leger, and Camelot's Triple Crown bid, short shrift, there is very little point in discussing that event as Camelot will win. He will become the first horse to land the Triple Crown since Nijinsky in 1970 and, in all probability, will do it in equally taking style to all of his previous triumphs.

As Gordon Ramsay would say: "St Leger, DONE". Whilst on the topic of food programmes, a show that comes highly recommended is Man vs. Food, a programme where the sole premise is to challenge one blokes' capacity to devour immense portions, to stomach blazing spices and to live to tell the tale.

My personal favourite episode takes place in Portland (conveniently) where the presenter is faced with the "Great Balls of Fire Challenge". He has to consume a quintet of fritters packed with incredibly hot chilli peppers and an equally fiery salsa in a set amount of time, which appears to be no easy feat.

The rapidity with which the field for the 2012 renewal of the Portland Handicap will complete the five and a half furlong distance (average race time of 1:07:27 over the last five years) most likely compares closely to the bowel movements of Adam Richman following his encounter in Portland.

Which horse can get the run on the runs and cross the line first? It's a tricky puzzle to solve, and the best place to start is most likely with Prodigality, who is yet to finish outside of the first two in 2012. His five starts have yielded just the one win, but he was only just denied by a nose at York and his second-placed effort at Ripon can effectively be read as a win, miles clear of those that raced on his side of the track and finding only El Viento, who raced down the far side, a short-head too good.

He was allowed to race off the same mark on his subsequent start at Ffos Las and, whilst that effort may appear to have been a stall in his development, in all probability the softer ground simply blunted his speed and he cannot be written off on the back of that. However, he has been raised 4 lb by the handicapper for his troubles, and whilst that might not be enough to prevent another bold showing, it may just mean that he is destined to be the bridesmaid once more.

A race that has produced two interesting contenders for the Portland took place at Sandown on the first day of September. A competitive sprint handicap went the way of Edge Closer who, after a short break, proved that the majority of his old ability is still there with a two and a quarter length defeat of Face the Problem. The suspicion is, however, that he enjoyed the run of the race that day, travelling strongly in touch of a quick pace on the favoured far-side rail, and that the 8 lb hike in the weights will be enough to stop him going in once more.

The fourth-placed horse in the aforementioned contest was Ajjaadd, and he shaped very well from a poor draw in the middle of the track, showing good speed to race prominently before fading late on, doing much the best of those that forced the pace. The six-year-old looks sure to make a bold bid here and is very tempting to put forward as the selection, but there is one towards the head of the weights that makes even greater appeal.

Rex Imperator is his name, and he has an excellent chance of adding a third win to his CV. The three-year-old is currently my second favourite horse in training after Piscean (don't ask why I like that one so much, I'm not entirely sure myself), and his recent defeats at York and Bath are certainly not reasons to discount him from your calculations.

The Roger Charlton-trained gelding enjoyed no run whatsoever on the Knavesmire, badly hampered after halfway and taken back to the rear of the field, not being knocked about once his chance had gone and finishing with plenty of running left. His next outing at Bath was, on the ratings, the worst run of his career, but given that his best form has come on good to firm ground his flop on a soft surface didn't really come as a surprise.

Forgive and forget, that is the motto of this piece, and if you forgive Rex Imperator's most unlucky run at York, forget his poor showing at Bath and remember his Windsor demolition job, you may just be rewarded handsomely.

Others likely to garner support are Kaldoun Kingdom and Mass Rally. The first mentioned is certainly of interest from his BHA mark of 93, the lowest it has been for almost three years, and it was encouraging that he produced the best effort of his season last time out at York, despite the five and a half furlong trip looking barely adequate, as he stayed on to finish fifth. A similar scenario is likely to unfold here however, but it will be of note once he is returned to six furlongs.

Mass Rally is not the most resolute of characters, his tendency to find little for pressure something of a concern, but he found more than is usually the case when finishing three places ahead of Kaldoun Kingdom on his most recent start. He will still be on the bridle a furlong out but is difficult to win with in general and is not one for maximum faith.

The Portland Handicap will be over and done with in a flash, certainly much faster than Richman can complete many of his Man vs. Food challenges. Ajjaad makes plenty of appeal following an eyecatching outing at Sandown but the one that gets the vote is Rex Imperator who, if at his scorching best as when easily scoring at Windsor, could prove far too tough a proposition for his opponents to stomach.

Recommendation
Back Rex Imperator @ 11.010/1 in the Portland Handicap

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