It's going to come down to whether Brett Prebble can get him out of the gates, but the John Moore-trained Straight Gold looks well up to making a winning Class One debut on the all-weather track in the Venus Handicap (1,200m) tonight.Straight Gold was a winner in good style up the straight 1,000m at his second start, but he has caught the eye more acutely in defeats of his own making at his latest two outings at 1,200m.He missed the jump, then finished powerfully into third behind Best Eleven in

It's going to come down to whether Brett Prebble can get him out of the gates, but the John Moore-trained Straight Gold looks well up to making a winning Class One debut on the all-weather track in the Venus Handicap (1,200m) tonight.

Straight Gold was a winner in good style up the straight 1,000m at his second start, but he has caught the eye more acutely in defeats of his own making at his latest two outings at 1,200m.

He missed the jump, then finished powerfully into third behind Best Eleven in February and that was enough to make him a short-priced favourite at Sha Tin on Derby day. And his second to Arrived Ahead confirmed the promise of that previous performance but it highlighted a worrying trend.

Once again, Straight Gold gave away a significant start when the gates opened and was fortunate Neil Callan was able to pick his way through the tail-enders to midfield when the early pace wasn't strong.

Straight Gold's finishing splits both times were excellent and, with a serious weight pull over major rivals Final Answer (Douglas Whyte) and course-specialist Dynamic Blitz (Olivier Doleuze), the three-yearold is the horse to beat. On paper.

But his starts are a concern and he was not perfect again when trialled on April 3, where the point of the exercise was to pass him to race again.

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