Surrey Belle looks set to strike in the Cesarewitch

SURREY Belle can secure victory in the Club Godolphin Cesarewitch Handicap (Heritage Handicap) (GBBPlus Race) (3pm) at Newmarket this afternoon.

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Gstaad (left) finishing second to Zavateri (right) in the Goffs Vincent O'Brien National Stakes at Curragh Racecourse last month - he can reverse the form in the Dewhurst Stakes at Newmarket today

(EVAN TREACEY/PA)

Adrian Keatley's five-year-old mare has been in fine form since joining the North Yorkshire dual-purpose stable in December last year, having previously been trained by Hughie Morrison.

The daughter of Golden Horn - a winner over 1m6f at Haydock Park around this time last year - has scored three times over hurdles since joining Keatley and got off the mark on the Flat at Ayr last time.

That latest success - over 1m5f in Scotland - saw her romp home by eight lengths from Spinning Wheel, who franked the form with victory dropping back to 1m4f at Leicester earlier this month. That was Surrey Belle's first start in 103 days since landing a handicap hurdle at Hexham. She was handed a 10lb rise by the handicapper for that success, but as it was after the entries were revealed for this prestigious handicap, she gets in with just a 4lb penalty here, so is officially 6lb well-in on the handicap.

Surrey Belle won over 2m4½f over hurdles and proved her staying ability on the Flat when only just beaten by three-quarters-of-a-length by Gibside in the 2m2½f Chester Plate at Chester's May Festival at the start of this season. She led for much of that contest and was only headed inside the final furlong.

The chance is that she can lead them a merry dance from the front and at biggish odds can go close to landing another success on the level.

As ever there are plenty of dangers - none more so than from the stable of British and Irish champion Jumps trainer Willie Mullins, who won the Cesarewitch three times in a row with Low Sun, Stratum and Great White Shark from 2018 to 2020.