Paul Kealy's play of the day at Haydock

Maksud
3.15 Haydock

Maksud was well backed in the Duke of Edinburgh at Royal Ascot, but paid the price for chasing too strong a pace and he ran a much better race than his finishing position of 12th suggests, so I'm taking the 2lb drop as a bit of a gift.

His best run last season came on his next start after Royal Ascot when he finished second to the well-handicapped Secret State, when both were giving chunks of weight to the third- and fourth-placed Inverness and Soulcombe, two horses who won good races in Britain afterwards and have done really well abroad since and would be rated at least 20lb higher if they were still here.

Maksud is 2lb lower now, and it's still far too early to give up on him turning into a decent performer at middle distances.

Maksud15:15 Haydock

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Jky: David Egan Tnr: Hughie Morrison

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