Andrew Asquith returns with his ante-post column and has two selections at Haydock on Saturday.
Weekend View: Saturday August 8
1pt e.w. Danger Bay in the Rose of Lancaster Stakes Haydock at 12/1 (Sky Bet, Paddy Power, Betfair 1/5 1,2,3)
1pt win Alobayyah in the Dick Hern Stakes Haydock at 5/1 (General)
Sky Bet odds | Paddy Power | Betfair Sportsbook Betfair Sportsbook
It’s a quiet week on the racing front with the Shergar Cup at Ascot taking centre stage this weekend. The meeting received a major boost on Monday following the confirmation Ryan Moore will join the Great Britain and Ireland team alongside Dylan Browne McMonagle and team captain Saffie Osborne.
It will be the first time Moore has ridden in the Shergar Cup since 2006 and he makes up a formidable team on paper. As I’ve mentioned in previous years, however, the Shergar Cup really is a marmite event, but from an ante-post betting point of view it’s a complete non-starter given we don’t know who will ride what, the field sizes and reserve runners, while this year only two bookmakers have priced up races.
There is therefore only a couple of races at Haydock and one at Newmarket to get involved in and all three have odds-on favourites at the head of the betting.
Sallaal put up one of the best handicap performances this century on Timeform’s scale at Epsom two starts ago and he didn’t need to improve on that effort to follow up in a Listed event at Sandown last time.
He’s going the right way now so it’s no surprise he’s been put in short for the Betway Rose of Lancaster Stakes, but DANGER BAY looks overpriced to me at double-figure odds and he’s well worth backing each way.
The form of his two wins at Hamilton last season is strong – he beat Eternal Force who went on to win his next three starts easily – and he proved himself on a steep upward curve when winning the Zetland Gold Cup from a mark of 94 in grand style on his return.
The handicapper hit him with an 8lb rise for that success, but he proved that lenient when very much catching the eye in the John Smith’s Cup at York last time.
Danger Bay travelled through that race like a well-treated horse, but he wasn’t best positioned near the far rail in the straight, meeting some severe trouble in-running while the race was developing to the right of him.
He was one of the last to come off the bridle, though, and the ground he made up in the final furlong under a hand ride marks him out as one to follow. Danger Bay crossed the line still full of running and, with a clear passage, it is very easy to argue he would have gone very close to winning.
That performance suggests he’s up to this level and, with the potential to improve further still, he remains one to be positive about.
Fallen Angel is a strong favourite for the Irish Stallion Farms EBF Dick Hern Stakes, but I want to be against her after her below-par reappearance which came over a mile and a quarter at York in May.
She hasn’t been seen since, so something may have been unearthed in the aftermath, and she is a five-time Group 1 winner who gets to run in this Listed race without a penalty. However, the ground is set to be quick on Saturday, and her sole wins when having some sort of firm in the description both came as a juvenile.
Fallen Angel may have enough class to get away with it, but she does have something to prove and, in ALOBAYYAH she meets a filly who is now starting to fulfil her potential.
I’ve been a fan of hers ever since she made a winning debut at Yarmouth a couple of years ago and she’s always been highly regarded by William Haggas. He stated in a stable interview earlier in the year that she never looked right last season, but she is quickly making up for it now, and there should be plenty more to come.
She was arguably unlucky not to win on her return and handicap debut over a mile at Ascot but she reversed than form in style over the same course and distance when resuming winning ways in the ultra-competitive Kensington Palace Stakes at Royal Ascot last time.
Alobayyah was in danger of being caught behind runners approaching two furlongs out, but she had the momentum and speed to squeeze through a tight gap and she soon powered on once seeing daylight to run down the runner-up who had gotten first run.
That was a smart performance which can be upgraded further when taking sectionals into account, Alobayyah fastest of all in the final furlong and it that effort highlighted her as a horse who is ready for a higher level.
Indeed, she will need to improve again now moving back out of handicap company, but she’s totally unexposed, is a nice type physically and her entries in the Matron and Sun Chariot Stakes later in the year suggest that she’s still held in the highest regard.
Preview posted at 15:30 BST on 04/08/2026
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