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Form expert Gary Crispe said on weight-adjusted Timeform ratings he predicted a tight finish with about a length separating the top four placegetters and Private Eye emerging as a narrow winner.

"The Joe Pride-trained Private Eye isn't rated as high as Kolding at the same point of their careers but their records are almost identical,'' he said.

"Kolding won the Queensland Guineas in the winter before coming back in the spring to complete the Epsom Handicap-Golden Eagle double.

"Private Eye was rated 107 when winning the Queensland Guineas before rating 115 when winning this year's Epsom, running to a level about two lengths inferior to Kolding.

"But the four weeks between runs looks a great set-up for Private Eye dropping back to 1500m. He'll just need a touch of luck from the wide draw.''

Golden Eagle favourite I'm Thunderstruck is a last-start Group 1 winner of the Toorak Handicap, improving his Timeform rating to 113 to be slightly lower than Private Eye.

"Private Eye and I'm Thunderstruck boast impressive profiles, with I'm Thunderstruck winning five of his eight starts,'' Crispe said.

"However, I'm Thunderstruck still has a fair bit of room to move, whereas most of his opposition have already reached their mark.

"I'm Thunderstruck has never raced anticlockwise before. However, his sole trial in New Zealand was that way of going.''

European imports Laws Of Indices and Maximal make their Australian debuts in the Golden Eagle, adding real interest and class to the field.

Laws Of Indices comes across as a Group One and Group Two winner in Europe, though both were at big odds, and a Timeform rating of 115 is not quite as high as one would expect with those two features to his name.

"But it's a rating that measures right up in the Golden Eagle, and that both of those wins came at the expense of other Group One winners adds some substance to the form,'' Crispe said.

"He has not been entirely consistent but he is more than capable of being competitive.''

Few racehorses have come to these shores with a pedigree to match Maximal.

A three-quarter brother to the great Frankel, Maximal also has substance in the form book having run into two of the best horses in the world in his most recent runs.

"Maximal held on well in the St James's Palace Stakes at Royal Ascot behind Poetic Flare and followed that with a game effort when second to Baaeed,'' Crispe said.

"Maximal was no match for Poetic Flare or Baaeed but there is nothing of that ilk in the Golden Eagle and the 1500m looks ideal first-up.''

Online article taken from Punters, published on Friday, 29th October 2021, Author, Ray Thomas.