John Ingles of Timeform provides an overview of the key things to note on Wednesday.
Three points of interest
Monticello can make it two out of two for new yard
Monticello was successful on his first start for Oliver Greenall & Josh Guerriero at Uttoxeter last week and looks capable of following up under a penalty over the same course and distance in this novices’ handicap hurdle (16:38).
The French-bred son of Karaktar, also the sire of the stable’s Cheltenham Festival winner Jagwar, had shown little ability previously in a bumper and three runs over hurdles for Clive Boultbee-Brooks but, having been sold for just £3,500 in the interim, he won most of that back when proving a very different proposition on his handicap debut for his new yard. Back in a hood which he’d also worn once for his former connections, there didn’t seem much market confidence in Monticello who started at 40/1, but he made smooth headway to head the odds-on favourite Crystal Mer three furlongs out and went on to beat that rival by three quarters of a length.
That was a farcical contest given only two of the scheduled nine flights of hurdles were jumped, but Monticello earned the ‘Horse In Focus’ flag, with further improvement to come and shaping as though he can win more races from his low starting-point in handicaps.
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Course specialist Blue Hero going for another win at Bath
Adrian Wintle has the top two in the weights in Bath’s mile handicap (16:53), and while Star of Atlantis needs to bounce back from her latest start, stablemate Blue Hero, the mount of Joe Leavy, looks much more interesting at a track where he has an excellent record, earning the ‘Horses For Courses’ flag.
Since joining his current yard, Blue Hero has done most of his turf racing at Bath and can now boast eight victories there at distances up to just shy of a mile and a half. His most recent victory came over that trip just over a year ago, while his three runs at Bath in recent months suggests he’s back in good form. He shaped better than the bare result, having been short of room, when a close fourth on his penultimate start and wasn’t helped by a steady pace when third behind Galactic Glow on his most recent outing.
Blue Hero has to be taken seriously now that he has dropped a couple of pounds below the mark he won from last summer and he heads the Timeform weight-adjusted ratings as a result.
Keane can deliver Red Letter in listed race
The highlight on day three of Killarney’s July Festival is the Cairn Rouge Stakes (18:50), a listed contest for three-year-old fillies over a mile. It remembers the high-class Irish filly, trained by Michael Cunningham, whose wins in 1980 included the Irish 1000 Guineas, Coronation Stakes and Champion Stakes.
None of the 13 fillies declared for this year’s contest are in that league, but the pair who stand out in the Timeform weight-adjusted ratings are Red Letter and Fiery Lucy although both only have maiden wins to their names to date. However, Fiery Lucy has made the frame in listed contests on her last couple of starts and ended last year by finishing a very good fourth in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf.
Preference, though, is for Red Letter whose connections – Juddmonte, Ger Lyons and Colin Keane – won this race in 2019 with Viadera. The grey daughter of Frankel was only beaten a head on her debut last year by last season’s top two-year-old filly Lake Victoria and was fourth to the same rival in the Moyglare Stud Stakes. Sent off third favourite for the 1000 Guineas on her reappearance, Red Letter wasn’t seen to best effect at Newmarket, but she fared better last time dropped to listed company when a keeping-on half-length second to subsequent Group 3 winner Barnavara at Navan last month. She’s capable of going one better here.
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