The Sky Sports Racing presenter returns with her look ahead to the action from Haydock, where a talented 10-year-old is tipped to run well.
Can you believe it’s less than two weeks until Royal Ascot?
It felt like the Flat season was set alight at Epsom with the astonishingly superior performance from City Of Troy in the Betfred Derby. He put his hand up in response to the question of where this season’s superstar is going to come from.
“Here I am!” said the beautifully laid back son of Triple Crown hero Justify. His demeanour beforehand and the understated way he got the job done in the Classic was impressive.
Maybe he did need his reappearance run badly in the 2000 Guineas. If so, his schedule between Newmarket and Epsom must have been pretty intense. He took it all in his stride though and the world is now his oyster. He’s Sky Bet’s 6/1 favourite to win the Breeders’ Cup Classic at Del Mar on November 2. It's a race trainer Aidan O’Brien is yet to win, but in this lad he has an ideal candidate.
Don't stop Believing
Let’s try and find a few winners for this weekend. Haydock hosts Saturday’s Premier Raceday with a couple of Group 3 races and a Listed contest part of the eight race card.
The opening contest is the Betfred Passionate About Sport Achilles Stakes over five furlongs. Sky Bet are offering money back as cash if you are second or third, which gives us the option of taking on 10/11 favourite Live In The Dream. I tipped up Kerdos who subsequently beat Adam West’s stable star at this track last month, so I’ll be hoping to find something against him once again.
His main market rival is the George Boughey-trained Believing, who has had an unusual preparation having run in Hong Kong in April. She’s only had one try at this five furlong trip when blowing her race at the start at Chantilly.
She has been troublesome at the stalls and it’s always a worry that she could do something similar again. Royal Ascot is her next major target and how she performs here will probably determine whether she goes for the five, or six furlong Group 1 there. She gets weight from all her rivals here which is appealing.
Democracy Dilemma ran a blinder to finish second in the Dash at Epsom last weekend and was only beaten half a length by a horse carrying 18lbs more than him. He only just gets home, but is improving as a four year old.
Korker can also be tricky at the start, so can’t afford to fluff his lines as the stalls open. He’ll wear cheekpieces for the first time. Elsewhere, it’s an interesting move to run Commanche Falls over five furlongs for the first time on his 38th race at the age of seven, although he’s shown a liking for this track in the past.
Live In The Dream is the worthy favourite but let’s be sporting and take him on with BELIEVING in receipt of that weight. She’s a class act and has Group 1 targets in the future, so you’d like to see her acquit herself well in this grade.
Can you spot the Theme developing...?
The Betfred Nifty 50 Lester Piggott Fillies’ Stakes is one of two Group 3 races on the card. Lester’s son-in-law William Haggas has made a happy habit of winning this race of late, with three winners in the past five years.
Tom Marquand has been on two of them and gets the leg up on Sea Theme this time round. For those of you that like patterns, his last two winners' names began with the word ‘Sea’ as they were daughters of Sea The Stars, as is this year’s participant.
SEA THEME is the 5/1 joint favourite, and I think she can add a first Group 3 to her CV (Sea Vee?!).
Spencer special in the John Of Gaunt
At 3.35pm we have the other Group 3, the Betfred John Of Gaunt Stakes, over seven furlongs, and it should be a superb race.
Last year's winner Jumby is in the line-up once again for Eve Johnson Houghton, but in this improved renewal he’s an 11/1 shot this time round having been sent off 9/4 favourite 12 months ago.
Sky Bet have Noble Dynasty as their 7/2 favourite for Charlie Appleby with Pat Dobbs on board as regular rider William Buick is riding for the trainer in America. If I was being fussy, the ground may be a touch on the quick side for him if they don’t get any rain.
The Richard Hannon trained Witch Hunter is an admirable horse that is often underrated. He’s a 9/2 shot after finishing an excellent third in the Group 1 Lockinge Stakes on his most recent outing. The drop back to seven furlongs will suit. Again, slightly easier underfoot conditions would help his cause.
Tiber Flow had a horrible experience on his most recent outing when falling at York but it’s good to see he’s none the worse. He had some success over seven furlongs in the early part of his career but has been sprinting for the past couple of seasons. He’s of note back up in trip and is 6/1 with Sky Bet.
Richard Fahey’s Ramazan finished a close second in the Victoria Cup at Ascot last month, a short head in front of Bless Him.
At 22/1 BLESS HIM could be a tentative each-way selection with Sky Bet paying five places rather than three. He may be 10 years old now, but he ran a cracker when third in the Victoria Cup last time out on his reappearance and he’s reunited with old ally Jamie Spencer who has done the steering for six of his seven wins.
There appears to be plenty of pace in the race, so the race could be run to suit his hold up tactics and there’s no one better than Spencer for pulling that off.
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