Tuesday Talking Points: Richard Mann previews the day's racing at Lingfield
With Simon Crisford's in-form string coming under the microscope, Richard Mann previews Tuesday's racing at Lingfield.
The Flat is back
No, it's not time for the Lincoln meeting at Doncaster just yet but Lingfield stages an interesting all-weather card on Tuesday and the Ladbrokes Bet £5 Get £20 EBF Novice Stakes (3.10) is a race of considerable interest.
The all-weather has become no stranger to unearthing smart prospects for the following Turf season - think Enable in 2016 and Without Parole last year - and there are a number of smartly-bred newcomers on show here.
Owner Hamdam Al Maktoum is responsible for two of them, the first being a horse named Dawaam, who is by Kitten's Joy and cost 450,000 dollars at Keeneland last year.
He is related to a number of smart performers in the United States and this Derby entry represents an Owen Burrows stable that has ended the year in much better form than it began.
Roger Varian is another whose string has struck form of late - the yard brought up its 100th winner of the season last week - and the Newmarket handler saddles Khuzaam to make his racecourse introduction.
He hails from a smart family that includes the likes of 1000 Guineas winner Ghanaati and Group Three scorer Mawatheeq and it has been noticeable how forward the Varian newcomers have been in recent weeks.
Global Freedom, a 130,000 Euro son of Maxios, is another debutant to throw into the melting pot while a couple with experience also take the eye.
First of which is Frankel colt Top Top whose services connections forked out 260,000 guineas for at Tattersalls Book 1 Sales last year and who made a promising introduction at Newmarket last month.
The form of that race already reads well while Originaire is another who will be bidding to put his previous experience to good use following two placed efforts at Kempton to date.
He also boasts a striking pedigree, a son of Zoffany who trainer William Haggas will be keen to win a race or two with for powerhouse owners China Horse Club International Limited.
A juvenile contest that could easily be staged at Newbury in August, this is winter fare not to be missed.
Beware Crisford and first-time headgear
Simon Crisford is one of the most recognisable faces in British racing, dating back to his time as a leading figure within the Godolphin operation and now having become a real force in the training ranks.
Ostillo gave Crisford his first Royal Ascot winner as a trainer when winning the Britannia Stakes in the summer and his stable has been in fine form over the last couple of weeks.
In fact, Crisford has saddled four winners from only 15 runners in that period with three horses also running well enough to finish in the runner-up position in that time.
The progressive Sun Hat won well for the operation at Lingfield on Friday and Bobby K heads to the same track for the Betway Handicap (2.40) on Tuesday.
A good winner at Chelmsford, he clearly has no issues with running on an artificial surface but the big angle with him is the application of first time cheekpieces.
Over the last five years, Crisford is 4-17 with a level stakes profit of £4.17 when running horses in first time cheekpieces and following his horses in any first-time headgear in that period would have yielded an impressive level stakes profit of £59.13.
A good second at Nottingham most recently, Bobby K remains in excellent heart and looking at the above statistics, there is every reason to believe that Crisford will be able to unlock further improvement from this three-year-old.
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