John Ingles provides an overview of the key things to note on Monday.
Three points of interest
Bowens can hold off Skelton quintet at Worcester
Worcester stages the most valuable event of the day, a handicap chase over two and a half miles (14:00) worth just under £12,000 to the winner. Dan Skelton, currently third in the trainers’ championship, fields no fewer than five of the ten runners in pursuit of this good prize, including useful top weight Heltenham who ended last term with a win at Perth but reportedly had a breathing problem when pulled up last time, and Snipe who is Harry Skelton’s pick of the quintet but isn’t sure to be suited by the drop in trip.
In fact, the Skelton runners could struggle to make an impact at all here and preference is for Courtland who represents another pair of brothers, Mickey and Sean Bowen, who currently lead the trainers’ and jockey’s championships respectively after an excellent summer.
Courtland missed all of last season but won five times in 2023/24, with three of those victories coming at Worcester which earns him the ‘Horses For Courses’ flag. While understandably rusty on his return at Cartmel in June, he fared much better in the Summer Plate at Market Rasen the following month. Runner-up in that race in 2023, he filled the same spot again, looking as good as ever but bumping into improving Irish raider Ballysax Hank. Only 1 lb higher here and back down in grade, Courtland is 3 lb clear in the Timeform weight-adjusted ratings and can gain another course win.
Miss Yorkshire pick of the weights at Thirsk
Gemma Tutty’s Miss Yorkshire is still a maiden but her improved effort when going close at Newcastle last week suggests she has a very good chance of going one better in the seven-furlong handicap at Thirsk for three-year-olds (16:20).
Miss Yorkshire was a 25/1 shot at Newcastle after finishing down the field on her two previous runs, but that’s not the first time she has shown promise as she was also placed on her first three starts, including on turf at Ripon, while at Wolverhampton she chased home Clive Cox’s rapidly improving sprinter Flash Harry.
Miss Yorkshire bumped into a thriving rival last time too in the battle-hardened Enpassant, edging ahead briefly in the final in the final furlong before going down by a neck. 5 lb claimer Cian Horgan keeps the ride, and from the same mark here, Miss Yorkshire looks very well handicapped, being 5 lb clear in the Timeform weight-adjusted ratings.
Flash of Fire on her way to Group races?
Kempton’s bumper nine-race card includes three novice events and potentially the best prospect in those is Qatar Racing’s filly Flash of Fire, trained by James Ferguson, in the two-year-old fillies’ contest (16:55).
The daughter of Wootton Bassett has a fine pedigree as she’s a granddaughter of Lightening Pearl who was Sheikh Fahad’s first Group 1 winner when landing the Cheveley Park Stakes in 2011. Flash of Fire’s useful dam Lightening Quick was herself a Group 3 winner, in the Athasi Stakes, and with entries in the Rockfel Stakes (which her dam contested) later this month and the Fillies’ Mile, Flash of Fire could well be given the chance to keep up the family record in pattern company before much longer.
Flash of Fire made a fine start to her career in a novice at Doncaster in July where she was sent off at odds on despite being the only newcomer in a field of eight fillies. She clearly knew her job, though, racing close up throughout and edging ahead in the final fifty yards to win by three quarters of a length from Queen Tamara who has won comfortably since. Flash of Fire can defy her penalty and earn herself a place in better company.
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