John Ingles provides an overview of the key things to note on Wednesday.
Eye-catcher Kasgani the pick at Nottingham
The first of Nottingham’s two mile and a quarter handicaps (16:18) looks a good opportunity for Kasgani to shed his maiden tag as he very much the caught eye on his reappearance over the same course and distance in April.
That was Kasgani’s first start in Britain as he’d joined Declan Carroll for €16,000 since last season when he was trained in Ireland by Dermot Weld for the Aga Khan Studs. He ran five times in maidens there without reaching the frame.
However, Kasgani shaped with a lot more promise when making his handicap debut at this track just over six weeks ago. Racing in rear having been drawn widest of all, Kasgani was travelling best when getting no sort of run from two furlongs out before closing all the way to the line to be beaten a length and a half into third behind Caph Star who he meets on better terms here. That run earned Kasgani the ‘Horses For Courses’ flag, as well as the ‘Horse In Focus’ flag. Another who met trouble in that race, Show Biz Kid, has won since, and Kasgani, who heads the Timeform weight-adjusted ratings, can follow suit.
Barley can end long losing run at Ripon
It’s almost two years since Barley last got his head in front but he’s hardly been in the wilderness in the interim. Far from it in fact, as he was runner-up no fewer than five times last season, with three of those second places coming over a mile at Ripon which bodes well for his return to the same course and distance this evening (19:10).
Barley was going close off BHA marks in the 80s last season, but the handicapper has really given him a chance this year and he’s now potentially very well treated on a mark of just 66. He very nearly ended his losing run from that mark at Hamilton a week ago but looked an unlucky loser. Sanafi Zabeel held on to make all the running, but Barley shaped best having conceded first run to him, switching over a furlong out and keeping on well to go down by just a short head.
As well as the ‘Horse In Focus’ flag, Barley earned the ‘Sectional Timing Flag’ for that run. He heads the Timeform weight-adjusted ratings here and can be another Ripon winner for Tim Easterby who had a double at the track last Thursday.
Yulia looks best of O’Brien trio in Ebor qualifier
The Curragh’s evening meeting features a couple of Premier Handicaps, including the Sky Bet Race To The Ebor Handicap (19:20) which is run over the full Ebor trip and is a ‘win and you’re in’ race for York in August. Joseph O’Brien won this with Nusret in 2023 and Mr Percy last year and has three chances of winning it again this time. O’Brien’s trio include the top two in the weights, Emit, making his handicap debut under Ryan Moore, and veteran Dawn Rising who was runner-up in last season’s Cesarewitch.
However, the one who appeals most among O’Brien’s runners is Declan McDonogh’s mount Yulia further down the weights. The ex-French filly was a dual winner in her native country for Christophe Ferland in the autumn, including when successful in a handicap on the polytrack at Deauville.
Wearing a tongue tie, which is retained here, Yulia had her first start for her new yard in a similar event at Sligo a month ago. Backed into favouritism, Yulia can have a line put through that performance as she failed to get a clear run from early in the straight and finished with running left in fifth behind Lady Mairen. That was also over a shorter trip than she’d been running over in France, and the return to further (she has won over fifteen furlongs) looks another positive for this daughter of Camelot.
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