Check out our panel's thoughts on the weekend action

Expert Panel: Weekend racing preview including Breeders' Cup

By Sporting Life

Horse Racing

Sun November 02, 2025 · 2M ago

Andrew Asquith, John Ingles and David Ord tackle this Saturday's big questions ahead of the racing at Wetherby, Ascot and the Breeders' Cup.

The decs are in for the weekend – who’s your bet365 Charlie Hall Chase fancy?

John Ingles: Protektorat and HEWICK look well treated by the weights in receipt of 6lb from last year’s winner The Real Whacker and a couple of the others, so I can see this boiling down to that pair. There’s not a whole lot to choose between them on their best ratings, so preference is for the race-fit Hewick who was found an easy pipe-opener over hurdles at Thurles recently and it’s interesting they’ve opted to come here instead of Down Royal where he was runner-up last year. With the going set to be no softer than good, it looks like Hewick will have his ideal underfoot conditions too.

Andrew Asquith: I find it hard to see past PROTEKTORAT. He may be rising to 11 years of age, but he showed last season when a facile winner of the Fleur de Lys (beating Djelo by 23 lengths) and when finishing second to Jonbon in the Melling Chase he’s still capable of high-class form. He has gone well when fresh in the past and he should have a bit too much for these based on last season’s efforts, especially with this step back up in trip in his favour.

David Ord: The six-pound penalty makes life more difficult for DJELO but I'm still expecting a very big run from him. He's unexposed over the trip, has a tremendous record fresh and when he's good, he's very good. We saw that when he gave Protektorat all that he could handle and more in the Peterborough Chase at Huntingdon in December and if he gets into a good rhythm around here, he's a huge threat to the market leader who is suited by the conditions of the race but not exactly a prolific winner.

Give us one more horse on your radar for Ascot or Wetherby?

DO: Strong Leader is as short as 13/8 for the bet365 Hurdle at Wetherby and while clearly very useful on his day, he's far from bombproof as his overall profile shows. I'm keen to take him on with TAKE NO CHANCES who won the Listed Mares' Hurdle on this card last season but stays this trip well. She has the benefit of a pipe-opener at Chepstow where she shaped really well behind Rambo T and should be cherry-ripe for Saturday. She's plenty of form over three miles and will take advantage of any holes in the favourite.

AA: The Sodexo Gold Cup has cut up a little from earlier in the week and I think THE CHANGING MAN will be hard to beat. He has some excellent form over this course and distance, finishing runner-up to course specialist Victtorino in the Silver Cup last season and also winning the Reynoldstown by 24 lengths. Admittedly, that race fell apart somewhat, but his runner-up effort to a handicap blot in the Ultima is strong form, and he has conditions in his favour.

JI: Ascot’s novice handicap chase (13:30) looks an intriguing contest despite just the five runners with Ben Pauling’s No Questions Asked looking the type to take well to fences this season and Viroflay making his handicap debut for Paul Nicholls after plenty of success in points/hunter chases for daughter Olive who keeps the ride. That pair share top weight but at the other end of the handicap the Moore stable’s LYLIAN is on a potentially good mark for his British debut. He won over fences at Dieppe in the summer, and Gary Moore has sent out the winner of this race twice since 2017, including with another four-year-old Nassalam.

Minnie Hauk wins the Yorkshire Oaks under Ryan Moore

Over in America are you for or against Minnie Hauk in the Turf?

JI: Rebel’s Romance has been a fantastic performer for Charlie Appleby and it would be great to see him repeat last year’s win and become the first three-time Breeders’ Cup Turf winner. But he’s not getting any better at his age, whereas that was a career-best effort from MINNIE HAUK when going down narrowly to Daryz in the Arc. With the return to a much firmer surface not an issue, I think she can go one better here.

DO: Stall eight might slightly complicate matters but I have to be with MINNIE HAUK. After all she's within 50 yards of a perfect season in 2025, run down in the dying strides of the Arc by Daryz, the pair were well clear of the third. She sets a clear form standard, bounced off the fast ground when winning the Yorkshire Oaks and Aidan O'Brien has no peers when it comes to backing a horse up from a big autumn target for the Breeders' Cup. Rebel's Romance will give it a bold shot as be bids to complete a hat-trick in the race, but I don't think he'll have the answer to Minnie Hauk's stretch drive.

AA: I think she could be vulnerable on this tight-turning track. She’s clearly a high-class filly, but she looks more of a galloper than a push-button horse to me, and she may get tapped for toe, while her draw isn’t fantastic, either. I’d rather side with the prolific REBEL'S ROMANCE, who is a two-time winner of the race, and overcame a wide draw over this course and distance 12 months ago. He’s well suited by the demands of American racing and looked as good as ever at Aqueduct last time.

WILLIE MULLINS 2025/26 STABLE TOUR!

What’s your idea of another likely European winner?

AA: I’ve been a fan of DIAMOND RAIN for a while now and I like her in the Filly & Mare Turf. She was good when winning a listed event and Group 3 in Britain earlier in the year and I thought she shaped with plenty of promise when beaten a head by She Feels Pretty over a mile and a quarter at Woodbine last time. She never quite had the speed to get on terms with the speedier winner, but she was closing all the way to the line, only beaten a head, and this longer trip and better draw should allow her to reverse that form. Diamond Rain is still far from exposed, too, and represents a yard that always target this meeting strongly.

DO: I have one in the Filly & Mare Turf too and am very sweet on CINDERELLA'S DREAM. She flew home when second in the race last season, giving the distinct impression she was the best horse in the race. Her campaign in Europe this summer has been a positive one, winning the Dahlia and Falmouth, and it's easy to put a line through a rare off-day in the Sun Chariot last time where she was racing away from the main action. She's streetwise at Del Mar now, will relish the ground and at around 5/1 looks a bet.

JI: Notable Speech looks like going off favourite for the Breeders’ Cup Mile for the second year running but he was only third last year after earlier wins in the 2000 Guineas and Sussex Stakes, whereas he has no such successes to his name in Europe this season. He did win a Grade 1 in Canada last time, but that wasn’t a strong contest and Francis-Henri Graffard’s three-year-old SAHLAN makes more appeal at the prices. An unexposed sort, he left his previous form behind when coming off a good pace on firmish ground to win the Prix du Moulin at Longchamp last time. He should get a similar scenario here and has the beating of The Lion In Winter on that form which looks as good as anything Notable Speech has done this season.

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