Timeform Daily View - Friday preview and tips

Horse Racing

Thu October 29, 2026 · 19h ago

Timeform provide an overview of three things to note on Friday.

Aegean Star to step up in grade

With Newbury losing last week’s meeting to the weather, Newmarket has been the beneficiary with the addition of the transferred Group 3 St Simon Stakes (14:20) to their Friday card. That’s not the first time that Newmarket has rescued the St Simon, also doing so in 1998 and 2001.

William Haggas has been successful in four of the last seven renewals of the race (sharing a dead-heat in 2018), with the nine-year-old Hamish winning it for a second time last year. Haggas relies on another stable stalwart this year, Al Aasy, he too aged nine, though his task is complicated somewhat by a penalty, having won the Group 2 Grand Prix de Deauville on his penultimate start before following up in the Cumberland Lodge Stakes at Ascot last time.

Al Aasy needs respecting but may well find conceding 5 lb to progressive younger rival Aegean Prince just beyond him. The Godolphin four-year-old clearly hasn’t been easy for ‘Hot Trainer’ Charlie Appleby to train but has improved with each of his five runs and returned from eleven months off with an impressive win under top weight in the Old Borough Cup at Haydock last month. Drawing clear from two out, Aegean Prince won easing down by seven and a half lengths, earning the ‘Horse In Focus’ flag. That was a very smart effort and makes him clear top-rated in the Timeform ratings for this step up in grade.

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Kingston Narcissus can get his head in front at Wetherby

Dan Skelton won Wetherby’s premier handicap chase (15:35) twelve months ago with Thistle Ask and has a good chance of doing so with another recent stable recruit Kingston Narcissus this year.

Kingston Narcissus was a wide-margin winner on his chasing debut at Hexham in May in what proved to be his final start for Rebecca Menzies. Bought to join Skelton for £25,000 later that month, Kingston Narcissus was kept going over the summer though found one too good in all three of his starts at Worcester, Uttoxeter and Market Rasen.

However, he looked unfortunate not to land the Summer Plate at Market Rasen, collared in the dying strides having been hampered by a faller four out. Kingston Narcissus coped really well with the demands of that more competitive handicap and earned the ‘Horse In Focus’ flag. He heads the Timeform weight-adjusted ratings in this contest where underfoot conditions won’t be too different from his recent starts, though entries in the Paddy Power Gold Cup and Coral Gold Cup suggest that connections don’t see Kingston Narcissus as merely a ‘summer’ horse.

Elyam speeding towards a hat-trick

Lincolnshire trainer Michael Herrington is going great guns this season, passing the half-century of winners last week and assured of a best-ever total. Veteran Badri, a four-time winner in the summer and since placed in listed company, is one success story for the yard, and so too is another sprinter who began his career in the Shadwell silks, Elyam, though he has youth on his side at the age of four and is open to further improvement.

Bought out of Richard Hannon’s stable for 14,000 guineas, Elyam had been off the track for over two years when returning at Southwell in September but produced a couple of useful performances there that month. Clearly suited by dropping down to five furlongs, Elyam cruised home by five lengths in a novice and then made all again when following up in a handicap with a cosy half-length to spare over Ziggy’s Triton who has won since.

Elyam earned the ‘Horse In Focus’ flag for that win when having Juan Les Pins (third, and another winner since) and Paddy’s Day (sixth), who both reoppose here, behind him. Elyam heads the Timeform weight-adjusted ratings in Newcastle’s five-furlong handicap (18:15) by 3 lb with better still to come and he should again be hard to catch in his bid for a hat-trick.

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