4:45am - ATC CUP | 2000m | Listed | i

A bit tactical would be an understatement in this tricky looking middle-distance Listed event. No gallopers that like to race in the lead leaves us with a possible lack of tempo. However, with most lacking a genuine turn-of-foot, one of the jockeys might decide to take up the running at an Even clip to give themselves a chance. World Wide, Metaphorical, Malice and Permit won't be far away from the speed and the two best performed out of those are a good place to start. Permit maintained a long run first up, while Malice seems to have better acceleration than most here - a big asset. Midsummer Sun and Beyond Thankful will be chasing strongly to the line and can win if the Tempo is ok. Both were right in the finish behind Malice last start. Gallatin needs to improve after a few below-par efforts and Metaphorical steps up from a Benchmark 78. She does have staying talent though so expect her to be in the mix. A few are good enough to win, but Godolphin might be in the box seat again.