Sky Sports Racing's Alex Hammond hails the feats of Hollie Doyle in this week's blog while looking ahead to the weekend's action at Haydock and Ascot.
Sometimes (actually quite often) in my job I feel incredibly lucky to be at a certain place, at a certain time.
That was true of Windsor on Saturday. Now you know I love a trip to the Thamesside track as much as anyone and have really missed my regular Monday evening visits there during this strange year we are experiencing. What happened at the weekend went a long way to making up for that.
I was exchanging WhatsApp messages with my Sky Sports Racing colleague Jamie Lynch from dawn, as we both regularly refreshed Twitter to see if officials at the track had given the meeting the go ahead prior to the official 6.30am inspection that had been called.
A deluge of rain had hit that part of the country in the days (and weeks) running up to Windsor’s biggest fixture of the year and there was a collective sigh of relief from the pair of us when clerk of the course Sophie Candy gave the meeting the all clear. It was on, but even then we couldn’t have foreseen what an incredible day we were going to be lucky to be involved with.
My tip of the day was a horse of Roger Charlton’s called Maurimo whom I thought had an outstanding chance of giving Hollie Doyle a winner in the mile handicap.
Sadly, the ground went against her and she was a non-runner, leaving Hollie with rides in the remaining eight races. To think I considered that to be Hollie’s best chance of a winner on the card! She booted home an 899-1 five-timer, becoming the first female jockey in the UK to ride five winners on a card.
That wasn’t the whole story either as she was first past the post in the two big races of the day on Le Don De Vie in the Autumn Stakes and on Extra Elusive in the group 3 Winter Hill Stakes. Those five winners were provided by five different trainers too.
This juggernaut is rocking and rolling in unstoppable fashion now and many people are asking if Hollie is a future champion jockey. My answer to that is an unequivocal yes! Aside from her obvious talent in the saddle, Hollie is a thoroughly nice person, incredibly humble and is a real grafter. It’s only a matter of time before she gets a well-deserved Group 1 and that could come sooner than you think.
Could Glen Shiel be the horse to provide Hollie with her first win at the highest level? It’s not impossible, but he will need to progress again to beat some of the opposition in Saturday’s Group 1 Sprint Cup at Haydock.
Like his rider he comes into the race with his confidence sky high having won his last two starts, but this will be a different kettle of fish from the conditions stakes and Group 3 he bagged last month.
He’s getting quicker as he gets older (he won over nine furlongs when trained in France) and he’ll enjoy underfoot conditions, but the 16/1 on offer with Sky Bet is a fair assessment of his chance.
Dream of Dreams is a worthy 3/1 favourite after his win in the Hungerford Stakes at Newbury last time out and I’m a real fan of this horse. That came over seven furlongs, but he’s just as effective at six. However, at the price I’m happy to take him on.
Last year’s winner Hello Youmzain keeps producing the goods and his record at Haydock speaks for itself. He finished second in the Group 1 Prix Maurice De Gheest at Deauville last month behind Space Blues on his most recent outing and he’s 7/2 to win the Haydock race again.
Like Hello Youmzain, Golden Horde also ran in that race in France last month, he was a touch disappointing, but like the former may have been stretched by the 6 ½ furlongs.
I haven’t written off Art Power despite his disappointing effort behind Battaash in the Nunthorpe two weeks ago. He missed the kick at York and was never able to get into things, but he was on an upward trajectory before that and the step back up to six furlongs will suit. Trainer Tim Easterby has his team in good form and at 15/2, I’m happy to have him on my side.
Away from Haydock there is a cracking two day meeting at Ascot on Friday and Saturday and I’m looking forward to having a good delve into the form later this week as I’ll be there both days for Sky Sports Racing.
At this stage though there are a couple of horses I’m keen to see take their place in their respective races.
Now, I’ve fallen slightly out of love with Kipps having followed him over a cliff and it’s fair to say that he looks like a tricky customer, but you just know he’s going to pop up at some point.
His trainer Hughie Morrison is in blazing form right now and that gives me a bit more confidence that Saturday’s Lavazza Stakes could be redemption time for the grey.
The return to Ascot and a mile and a half are all moves in the right direction and at 8/1 with Sky Bet I’m going in one more time, taking into account the stable’s impressive 32% strike rate, which is giving me a bit more confidence. Don’t let me down fella!
Sticking with Saturday’s card and the six-furlong Fever Tree Handicap looks like a typically competitive sprint handicap.
Chil Chil was an impressive winner over this track and trip on the replacement Shergar Cup card last month and it seems likely there’s more to come from Andrew Balding’s four-year-old. She’s in at Salisbury on Thursday, but should she miss that engagement and run here, I’d want her on side.
Starman is Sky Bet’s 5/1 favourite for Ed Walker after his most recent win at Doncaster took his career record to two from two. He’s been given a mark of 97 and looks to have an exciting future.
Now, Bielsa is an interesting one for trainer Kevin Ryan. Like Chil Chil, this horse carries the King Power Racing silks and he was bought by his powerful owners to run in the Wokingham and was very well supported to win the Royal Ascot handicap.
Well, he ran in it, but nowhere near fast enough and he’s now on a retrieval mission. He wouldn’t want the ground to end up too fast, but with that in mind, is one to watch if he does line up on Saturday. He’s currently a 12/1 shot.
On Friday at Ascot we could see a newcomer take an important first step on the road to potential stardom. John Gosden has entered a son of Sea The Stars in the Future Stayers’ Maiden over seven furlongs (3.05pm).
Derab is his name and his current claim to fame is he’s a half-brother to Enable. There will no doubt be plenty of expectation on his shoulders with a high-profile stallion career the long term aim, but I’m just hoping he runs at the Berkshire track as it will be wonderful to see him on his first day at school.
Just 23 1/2 hours later his big sister should be successfully strutting her stuff in the September Stakes at Kempton en-route to her bid to win an historic third Arc at ParisLongchamp next month.
