Six horses to follow as the ground turns heading into the autumn months
There's rain in the air and the nights are drawing in - fear not, Matt Brocklebank and Ben Linfoot have six horses not to be missed as conditions worsen over the next few weeks.
MEKONG (Frankel)
Sir Michael Stoute is many things but patient is right at the top of his many virtues when it comes to training racehorses - look no further than Poet's Word, now a dual Group One winner having been beaten by Gawdawpalin in an Epsom handicap from a mark of 87 last summer.
Mekong looks a horse who has clicked relatively quickly for Stoute and all he needs now to really fulfil his potential at the end of an already successful three-year-old campaign is some nice, deep ground.
Cue Haydock's Read Luke Morris Blog At Unibet Handicap this Saturday, a race for which this son of Frankel looks made. He was fourth, beaten under two lengths, on Good to Firm in the Sky Bet Melrose at York last month and that reads really well given he had to carve out his own running.
Sent off the 11/2 favourite on the Knavesmire, his backers should be looking at the forecast with glee as compensation surely awaits before the year's out. (MB)
Entries:
ADDEYBB (Pivotal)
It seems an age ago that Addeybb was being mentioned as the new kid on the miling block.
A Lincoln smash-up job was followed by a Group Two romp in the bet365 Mile at Sandown in April, but Good to Firm ground as well as racing on the unfavoured part of the track did for him in the Lockinge.
He’s well worth forgiving that and, freshened up for an autumn campaign, he could still make his mark at the highest level when the ground turns. (BL)
Entries:
Addeybb looks a class apart and wins the Lincoln at @DoncasterRaces! Watch LIVE on @ITV4 pic.twitter.com/2NL6t8tLNI
— ITV Racing (@itvracing) March 24, 2018
TO DIBBA (Dubawi)
To Dibba grabs the ground like many a Dubawi before him and there are races to be won with him when that high knee action is allowed to operate at full capacity and others start to paddle.
He's only raced twice this season but gelding him after a limp comeback at Ripon back in April seems to have helped as he went down fighting at Doncaster in early-August.
Town Moor dries as quickly as anywhere and the going was dead against him that afternoon, so a subsequent 3lb rise shouldn't be enough to stop him going one better when he's next entered up.
It's not been a stellar season for his trainer Roger Varian so far, but there is still bags of time to turn things around and hopefully this powerful grey can register a deserved second career success over the next month or so. (MB)
Entries: NA
TERUNTUM STAR (Dutch Art)
Kevin Ryan's chestnut has come down the weights from a starting point of 104 in April to 99 and he's not run a bad race in that sequence.
Obviously, he was 20th of 20 in the Great St Wilfrid at Ripon last month but we can completely put a line through that run as he stumbled and very nearly fell coming out of the stalls and his chance had effectively gone in a flash.
Now rated just 1lb higher than when an impressive winner from Spring Loaded at York last October, he could be in for a seriously fruitful autumn campaign.
The Ayr Gold Cup - a race he's contested before (without luck, admittedly) - looks an obvious target but it wouldn't be a surprise to see him run somewhere before then in a bid to get him back up the weights to secure his place in the Ayr line-up. (MB)
Entries:
EMMAUS (Invincible Spirit)
Emmaus looked a horse to follow for this season when winning on heavy ground at Leicester at the end of April.
That was in Listed company and he fairly bolted up, but he wasn’t seen again until the Lennox Stakes at Goodwood at the end of July where he came home 10th of 12.
A fair fourth in France followed but he’s going to be of interest when the rain falls in his own back yard and we might even see him at Haydock on Saturday if the heavens open (which looks likely according to the weather forecasters). (BL)
Entries:
KYNREN (Clodovil)
David Barron’s Kynren has been running exceptionally well all summer on Good to Firm ground but he could well reach an even higher level when he encounters softer underfoot conditions.
He’s won twice on soft before and was a good third in the Spring Mile in the mud, too, so it’s to his great credit that he’s run so well on fast ground at York on his last two runs.
A 3lb rise for his second at the Ebor Festival was fair and he’s right on the radar for the Cambridgeshire where the intermediate trip could really play to this horse’s strengths. (BL)
Entries:
The 4,194th winner is 20/1 shot Poet's Society ridden expertly by @FrankieDettori in a 18 runner field!
— Great British Racing (@GBRacing) August 23, 2018
A brilliant win for a brilliant trainer!
🎥 @itvracing pic.twitter.com/rNxVKKJTyb
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