The 4.22pm maiden at Deauville this afternoon is not the most appetising betting contest on the face of it, priced up initially to 150%, but with several competitors lacking form and others coming off a break, it looks a shoot-out between those at the head of the market.

The standard is surprisingly poor for the track and I’m prepared to give Godolphin’s Pennybaker one more shot now finally switched to polytrack.

This daughter of Medaglia D’Oro is out of a Tapit mare and is expected to relish the surface. She has just seemed a bit lost and unlucky in some of her turf races and I think the jockey change back to Barzalona will also perk up her ideas.

Fourth to Jerome Reynier’s Ravens Spirit when last seen in the provinces, a reproduction of that run will see her grab a minor place here but given her sire has a 33% strike rate on this surface in France, I’m hoping she will find a couple of kilos of improvement and appreciate a more expansive track from a wide (but not unfavourable) draw.

Gunma is the obvious starting point for bettors on his rating, but he is winless in 10 and including on this surface. His trainer is having a quiet year with just four winners. Carlina and Magic Sound also rate as dangers.

4.22pm Deauville – 1pt win Pennybaker 7/1 general