Modern News could prove hard to beat after successive wins at Newbury and Windsor, but this is a much deeper race than the Windsor Listed race he won and in FINEST SOUND he meets a rival who is proven at the top level. The Crisford yard have won 2 of the last 4 runnings of this race, both times with Century Dream (2018, 2020) as well as having 2 other placed runners since 2012, so it is fair to suggest that Finest Sound may well have been targeted at this race. He finished 3rd in the Group 3 Darley Stakes at Newmarket in October on his final start in the UK, but it is his most recent piece of form, a 2nd placed finish in the Group 1 Jebel Hatta at Meydan in March, that makes him of most interest. That was a career best effort and is arguably the strongest piece of form on offer in this lineup. Although he has not been to Epsom before, his Sire, Exceed and Excel does have an 11.8% strike rate here and his dam was by Derby 3rd Dubawi, so there is enough hope in his pedigree that he will handle the track. The race should setup nicely for him and he is overpriced in the early markets when compared to Modern News.
