It's rare for Sir Mark Prescott to send any runners up to Carlisle never mind just the one runner. In fact, he's not sent a runner up to the Cumbrian course since 2018.
Oasis Dream gelding DUKE OF PRUSSIA becomes his first runner there in nearly three years and he's already been well backed.
It's not been a great start to his career however. From his first four starts, he's finished a total of 95 lengths behind the eventual winners of the race. Not the greatest of form going in to this.
So what justifies his favouritism today then? For starters, he's on handicap debut running off bottom weight. The second factor is the trip. He's now stepping up to 1m 1f for the first time and he's a half brother to the John Gosden trained Kick On who was a Listed winner over that distance. The third factor is the travel aspect. For Sir Mark Prescott to send one horse on the 530 mile round trip is rather telling that he's got a lot of confidence in it doing the business. The fourth and final factor is Prescott's record at the course. He's got a 35% win rate there and a 50% place rate.
Put all these together and on paper, this horse looks like he's got a heck of a chance of finally breaking his maiden at the fifth time of asking.