John Ingles provides an overview of the key things to note on Thursday.
Force to reckon with in Hambleton Handicap
The last three winners of the Hambleton Handicap (14:55) all bid to win this valuable mile contest again. Croupier, successful in 2023, and last year’s winner Old Cock are with different stables now from when they won it but Old Cock’s former trainer Ed Bethell bids for the hat-trick with his 2024 winner Point Lynas, though he looks to have it all to do off top weight.
Another to have moved yards is last season’s Lincoln winner Godwinson making his reappearance for Jack Channon having left William Haggas since last year, but Haggas, who has the ‘Hot Trainer’ flag, has a leading contender of his own with Sea Force. He made into a useful handicapper last season after getting off the mark in a maiden at Nottingham and signed off with a win at Yarmouth which suggested he’d be one to keep on the right side this season. He had also run well last summer over this course and distance when keeping on well for a close sixth in the Sky Bet Mile Handicap at the Ebor meeting, earning the ‘Horses For Courses’ flag.
Sea Force has had a couple of runs this year, probably needing the run at Musselburgh when his stable was yet to get going, but then giving the impression he might have won the Thirsk Hunt Cup earlier this month with a clearer run. Caught behind horses two furlongs out, he was keeping on when short of room again in the final fifty yards before finishing third to Mirsky, one of his rivals again here, earning the ‘Horse In Focus’ flag. Also heading the Timeform weight-adjusted ratings, Sea Force has good claims of gaining compensation.
Christmas Day another Derby hope for Ballydoyle?
Even by his standards, ‘Hot Trainer’ Aidan O’Brien has enjoyed a purple patch of late, not just winning all five of the races he contested at Chester last week but also sending out Minnie Hauk to make a successful reappearance at the Curragh, while Diamond Necklace won the Poule d’Essai des Pouliches at Longchamp on Sunday. Benvenuto Cellini and Constitution River looked leading Derby contenders after their respective wins at Chester, and now it’s the turn of Christmas Day to put his name forward for Epsom in the Dante Stakes (16:05).
O’Brien hasn’t won the Dante since 2010 but has strong claims with Christmas Day who Ryan Moore evidently prefers to stablemate Action who split Hawk Mountain (another of the stable’s winners last week, in a Group 3 in France) and Benvenuto Cellini in the Futurity Trophy but didn’t look straightforward when beaten at odds on in the Classic Trial at Sandown on his reappearance. Christmas Day, on the other hand, took his form to another level on his return in the Ballysax Stakes at Leopardstown last month, relishing the step up to a mile and a quarter.
That form got a boost at the weekend as Christmas Day had the first three in the Leopardstown Derby Trial, won by James J Braddock from the Ballydoyle pair Pierre Bonnard and Endorsement, behind him in the Ballysax where he was the apparent outsider of his stable’s four runners. He heads the Timeform ratings here, though, and any rain is likely to help his chances even more.
Aspect Island back in his own age group
This looks a good renewal of the Westow Stakes (16:40), a listed contest over five furlongs for three-year-olds. Tim Easterby’s filly Revival Power is a sister to Winter Power who won this race as well as the Nunthorpe in 2021, and she has plenty of speed herself as she showed when winning the Flying Childers Stakes last year as well as the Roses Stakes here at the Ebor meeting beforehand. An interesting contender too is Manatee Mehmas who’s from the family of speedster Battaash and made an impressive winning debut for David O’Meara in a novice at Doncaster last month.
However, they might struggle to beat Aspect Island who, coincidentally, is a half-brother to the dam of Manatee Mehmas and another who has clearly inherited plenty of the family’s speed. James Owen started him off over seven furlongs last year, but he ended up running his best races dropped to the minimum trip, finishing a close third in the Cornwallis Stakes at Newmarket (with Revival Power back in fifth) and taking the same place in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint.
Aspect Island had no easy task on his reappearance in the Abernant Stakes at Newmarket, taking on seasoned older sprinters over six furlongs, but he matched his two-year-old form and wasn’t beaten far in seventh behind Run To Freedom. The return to five furlongs and his own age group makes this an easier task, while he’ll have the assistance of Oisin Murphy, who has won two of the last three editions of this race, and which earns him the ‘Jockey Uplift’ flag.
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