John Ingles provides an overview of the key things to note on Monday.
Sydney Grace interesting on nursery debut
Charlie Fellowes and Paddy Bradley have been a very profitable trainer/jockey combination to follow this year, and they look capable of striking again with Sydney Grace in the first division of the nursery at Wolverhampton (18:10). Fellowes has the ‘Hot Trainer’ flag as his stable is in form and he has had more winners at Wolverhampton than at any other track in the last five years, while Bradley is on the way to his best-ever season, being just two short of last year’s total of 40 winners which was his previous best.
Bradley has ridden Sydney Grace in both of her starts to date. She ran an eye-catching race on her debut at Yarmouth in May when plainly very green but looked full of running at the line and confirmed that promise in good style at Carlisle the following month. Travelling all over her rivals from some way out, she went on to win that novice with something in hand by a neck from the odds-on favourite Rock Steady. The third, Blakey Ridge, has since won decisively at Thirsk.
Sydney Grace earned the ‘Horse In Focus’ flag at Carlisle and brings a totally unexposed profile to this nursery where she also heads the Timeform weight-adjusted ratings. The going was soft at Carlisle which is a stiff track, so the extra furlong here won’t be a problem.
Ray Mon Dough the one to beat under a penalty
The line-up for Windsor’s six-furlong handicap (18:55) includes Lequinto, Amazonian Dream and Under The Twilight who are all multiple course-and-distance winners, but they’re also the three oldest runners in the field and could be vulnerable to a less exposed sprinter.
One who certainly fits that description is Oliver Cole’s three-year-old Ray Mon Dough who will be contesting just his third handicap here. He made all for a ready success on his debut at Lingfield late last year and got right back on the up at Leicester last week when bolting up by nearly five lengths. His record in between was rather mixed, though that was largely down to his free-going nature, and he bumped into an above-average sprinter in a novice at Lingfield when chasing home Behike, the smart winner of a listed race at Deauville last weekend.
But back in a tongue strap, Ray Mon Dough put up a useful performance at Leicester in just his second handicap, earning the ‘Horse In Focus’ flag, and he looks capable of following up under a penalty as he heads the Timeform weight-adjusted ratings.
Longer trip to suit James Choice
Appropriately enough at the start of Ebor week, James Choice, who goes in the mile and a half handicap at Wolverhampton (20:10), is the product of parents who both excelled themselves at York’s big meeting. His sire Ulysses – James Choice is cleverly named! – won the Juddmonte International in 2017, while his useful dam Queen of Ice, who also carried the Cheveley Park Stud colours, had won the Galtres Stakes three years earlier, one of her two listed successes over a mile and a half.
Ulysses is also the sire of Saturday’s Geoffrey Freer Stakes winner Wine Dark Sea, a reminder that his runners tend to stay well, so James Choice certainly has the pedigree of one who will be suited by the step up to this evening’s trip.
Trained by Warren Greatrex, James Choice had shaped at two as though middle distances would bring out the best in him whilst coming up against some useful types. His reappearance at Newbury last month, which was also his handicap debut, offered something to work on, and he showed improved form last time at Southwell stepped up to eleven furlongs, giving the impression further still would suit. He earned the ‘Sectional Timing’ flag in chasing home ready winner Roc de Fer who won again on his next start, and James Choice looks capable of going one better here, heading the Timeform weight-adjusted ratings with further improvement to come.
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