Sky Sports Racing's Alex Hammond is at Newbury for a couple of days on the channel and she looks forward to the action in her latest blog.
There’s plenty of racing this weekend, where will your attention be focused?
I’m off to Newbury for two days for Sky Sports Racing where there are some lovely horses due to be in action. On Friday I’m particularly interested in the opening novice stakes (3pm) because some talented horses have run and won this over the years. Most notably, Bayside Boy, Chaldean, and Gewan.
The last two both represented Andrew Balding and he has two throws of the dice with Arthurian and Primal. The unraced Arthurian (beautifully named being by Camelot) looks the pick for Oisin Murphy and the market will guide.
Force Of Light could be the one to watch though being a full-brother to champion two-year-old Shadow Of Light and a three parts brother to Earthlight, amongst others. He makes his debut for a resurgent Charlie Appleby and William Buick takes the ride.
Anything Ed Walker runs in this type of race is to be respected too and he saddles debutante Shoot You Down who runs in the now familiar colours of TBT Racing, the racing operation of Simon Sadler, the owner of Blackpool FC. He runs the horses in honour of his father, who was known as Ten Bob Tony (TBT) when he worked on the market stalls, and Simon bought that horse as a breeze up for his father as a birthday present in 2023. That worked out well with their Queen Anne win this year and they are becoming a force to follow in flat racing.
Who do you like the look of in the Weatherbys Super Sprint at Newbury on Saturday?
This is a race I love, mostly for the fond memories it has given me since its inception in 1991 when the brainchild of Richard Hannon and Lord Carnarvon. That duo combined to win the race in 1992 with Lyric Fantasy, and Hannon is still the most successful trainer in the race with seven victories to his name. His son, Richard Junior, has won the race four times himself and he saddles five in this year’s renewal. Rollthedicebaby looks the pick of his with Sean Levey in the saddle.
But perhaps it is Richard Hughes who could come out on top here. He rode two of the Hannon Senior trained winners of this race and saddles Bint Archange on Saturday, and he’s snapped up the services of William Buick to ride his filly, who bounced back from a disappointing run at Royal Ascot to win a listed race at Sandown two weeks ago. It’s a devilishly difficult race to call though.
Is there another horse or two we should be looking out for this weekend?
Al Zanati could be a nice horse in the making for Charlie Appleby, and he may make his presence felt in the opening race at Newbury on Saturday. It’s a tough race for three-year-olds though despite the weight for age allowance.
Almuhit looks to have been primed for a repeat bid in Newbury’s 2.25pm on Saturday. Trainer Faye Bramley is proving she can get the job done with flat horses and jumpers and I respect this horse now he’s 2lbs below the mark he won off twelve months ago.
Finally, at Newbury I want to keep Soldier’s Tree on side when he lines up in the Hackwood Stakes. Trainer James Owen has spoken highly of this lightly raced five year old, and it looks like he’s still improving. This is just his third start for Owen, so there could be more to come.
And on the cusp of this year’s Go Racing In Yorkshire Summer Festival which starts on Friday, give us your top three favourite things about racing in ‘God’s own country.’
- It’s in Yorkshire, my favourite county! York was the first racecourse I ever visited, and it was the perfect venue to ignite my passion for the sport.
- You’ll get a friendly welcome wherever you go if racing on one of the 9 days.
- If you are planning to go to York on the final day of the Festival, you’ll not only get to see some quality racing, but you’ll also get the opportunity to watch one of my favourite artists Tom Grennan, as he is playing after racing. What’s not to love?!
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