The Timeform Jury team pick out the best bets for the ITV racing at Newmarket on Thursday.
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Newmarket
1.50 1 pt – 5 Space Legend 2/1
Ancient Wisdom looks an opposable favourite at a shade of odds against, considering his reappearance second in the Dante represented an effort some 10 lb below the pick of his best juvenile form and his mid-field finish in the Derby was worse still. The obvious one to oppose him with is Space Legend, who’s the most upwardly-mobile one in the field. He’s got better with each of his four career outings to date and well and truly bumped into one when second to Calandagan in the King Edward VII at Royal Ascot last time. He’ll have no trouble with the longer trip or the easier ground (he was a winner on heavy on his comeback) and looks the type to keep on improving for a while yet, with genuine pretensions to developing into a St Leger contender.
2.25 1 pt – 1 Ain’t Nobody 5/1
Whistlejacket’s win at the Curragh in May probably still sets the standard in this, and he’ll likely fare better now than when failing to cope adequately with a really fast five furlongs in the Norfolk, but it’s not as if the market is giving much away. Electrolyte is next in the betting, and his second in the Coventry was a terrific effort, but the heaped finish to that race means the form can’t be rated too highly and, at the prices currently on offer, Timeform ratings make Ain’t Nobody an obvious selection. He achieved more than either of the aforementioned pair at Royal Ascot when winning the Windsor Castle, and that effort is supported by the timefigure even if those turned out quickly from that race haven’t yet done much for the form. The way Ain’t Nobody finished that day leaves little doubt that he’ll be even better up at six furlongs, and a bit more progress will put him right at the level it typically takes to win this race.
3.00 1 pt – 6 Tropical Island 5/1 & 0.5 pt 3 Dark Vintage 11/1
It looks as if two of the big three-year-old sprint handicaps run already this season hold the key to this and at the odds, it makes sense to back the Richard Fahey-trained pair who ran in each of them. Firstly Tropical Island, who shaped much better than the bare result when sixth to James’s Delight in the Macmillan Sprint at York, travelling best of all on her reappearance but tiring having been ridden closer to the pace than ideal. With that under her belt, she’s fancied to take a step forward from that now. Given the prices, her stablemate Dark Vintage also ought to be kept on side. He’s got an unorthodox profile for a race like this given he was trained in the US as a juvenile, but there’s been encouragement on all his starts this year, doing his best work at the finish when third behind Big Evs in listed company at York and when sixth to Pilgrim in the Palace of Holyroodhouse handicap at Royal Ascot. This step up to 6f will suit while there are elements in his pedigree that suggest a bit of cut in the ground will be in his favour, too, his half-brother Kerdos producing a career-best effort when winning the Temple on good to soft while his dam’s only win came on soft ground.
3.35 1 pt – 4 Hamish 10/11
The first instinct is always to try and pick holes in a short-priced favourite, but in Hamish, there are few to be found. He’s a prolific winner and though his winning run was ended in the Coronation Cup last time, that length second to Luxembourg still has him as the clear pick at the weights. He’ll get his conditions here, even if the ground does dry out a little and it will be a surprise if he doesn’t have too much class and speed for several rivals who ideally would prefer a bit further.
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