Matt Brocklebank gives his assessment on a handful of horses looking to bounce back to their best at Ascot and Del Mar in the coming weeks.
"Just when I think you couldn't possibly be any dumber, you go and do something like this..."
Total redemption (!) has been a bit of a running theme over the past couple of weeks and perhaps it will continue as we head towards Champions Day at Ascot and the Breeders’ Cup hot on its heels in Southern California.
I probably wasn’t the only one being liberally fed that GIF of wrestler The Undertaker bolting upright in the coffin after Juddmonte International also-ran Daryz produced his eyecatching Arc de Triomphe trial back at Longchamp last month, while on Saturday Gewan pulled off his own mini-resurrection by downing Gstaad, Distant Storm and Zavateri no less in the Darley Dewhurst Stakes.
Daryz was shoved out to 50/1 in places for the Arc after his forgettable visit to York in August, and Andrew Balding’s grey was sent off 25/1 at Newmarket having beaten just one home behind Puerto Rico in the Champagne Stakes. A wonderful thing, hindsight.
You buy when the stocks are low and get handsomely rewarded if able to sell at their peak, we all know how markets work, but forgiving horses a poor show is a fine balancing act - as I’ve learnt during the past five years of producing the Value Bet column.
Here are a handful that punters will be expected to weigh up in the next few weeks with a personal 'forgive' or 'forget' verdict on each of them.
Field Of Gold (Queen Elizabeth II Stakes)
Two of the most bizarre Group 1 races to have been staged in Britain for ages played out within the space of three weeks this summer and both involved Gosden-trained horses as the main protagonists.
There were some very relieved faces around York after Ombudsman eventually picked up runaway pace-setter Birr Castle and careered away to land the Juddmonte International, but the Sussex Stakes debrief prior to that can’t have been an easy one after stablemate Field Of Gold’s star came crashing down.
You just get the sense that drama might follow this striking grey wherever he goes but the flat Goodwood effort was soon set aside after he was found to be lame a day or two later, and it has apparently been a case of getting him to Champions Day in the best possible shape ever since.
Six years have passed since the Clarehaven yard completed a back-to-back QEII double with Persuasive and Roaring Lion in 2017 and 2018, but they do generally nail it when the chips are down at this fixture and the relatively dry weather forecast suggests the stars are aligning again for Field Of Gold's much-anticipated comeback run.
FORGIVE
Economics (Champion Stakes)
The fragile Economics was well beaten when sent off 2/1 favourite for last year’s Champion and wasn't sighted again, until a recent public workout at Newmarket which appeared to go fairly well on the face of it, although whether galloping companion Dubai Honour would have gone by him had that one’s rider been a bit more vigorous in the saddle is a moot point.
Either way, this is shaping up to be a seriously spicy edition of the Champion Stakes, with Ombudsman, Delacroix, Calandagan and Almaqam all bringing top 2025 form to the table, and even last year’s best might not be enough for Economics to land the big one for William Haggas, whose sole success in the race came courtesy of a six-year-old Adeybb in 2020.
FORGET
It was great to see Economics have a gallop before racing at @NewmarketRace today. @LydiaHislop caught up with his trainer, William Haggas, afterwards to see whether we might see the colt in action at Ascot in a fortnight. #ChampionsDay pic.twitter.com/05zyox4YMQ
— Racing TV (@RacingTV) October 4, 2025
Estrange (Champions Fillies & Mares Stakes)
Setting the dirty scope which ruled her out of the Arc de Triomphe aside, is Estrange’s three and a half-length defeat in the Yorkshire Oaks worth forgiving? The layers clearly think so as they’re not giving much away at 5/2 favourite currently, but I’m inclined to agree on this one.
York winner Minnie Hauk could hardly have done much more to advertise the form when narrowly beaten by Daryz at ParisLongchamp, and it must be stressed how quick the track was riding when Danny Tudhope seemingly took the sensible approach to look after Estrange in the closing stages at the Ebor meeting (replay below).
It’s very unlikely to come up properly testing on Champions Day but Estrange is fine on good ground too and she’s got a spot of bouncebackability on the CV already having been soundly beaten on her second run at Yarmouth (good to firm going) last year before coming roaring back at Doncaster deep into the autumn.
FORGIVE
Lazzat (Champions Sprint)
Eased out to 7/1 or thereabouts for the Champions Sprint after being beaten at a short price again in the Betfair Sprint Cup last month, Lazzat has now steadily crept back to the head of the market and is no bigger than 9/2.
This horse brings the best form to the table thanks to his Royal Ascot victory over Satono Reve but having also been turned over at skinny odds in the Maurice de Gheest (the form of which didn’t exactly work out over Arc weekend) he’s got plenty to answer for as far as my punting is concerned.
He’s been on the go – on and off in fairness – since March 6 and might just benefit from another longer break at this stage so I’ll be taking him on at the weekend.
FORGET
Henri Matisse (Breeders’ Cup Mile)
Plenty of people appear to have half-forgotten Henri Matisse already but I’m hoping he’s on the Ballydoyle teamsheet for Del Mar and gives Ascot a swerve.
Having won the Juvenile Turf over the same course and distance last November, that would make a great deal of sense and having been a 5/1 shot for the BC Mile prior to the low-key effort on easy conditions in the Prix du Moulin last time out, you can now back him at double those odds which look more than fair considering the frustrating Rosallion and QEII-bound Field Of Gold are among those shorter than him in the market at the time of writing.
FORGIVE
Mindframe (Breeders’ Cup Classic)
Some readers may have already dipped their toe into the Breeders’ Cup research before the entries are officially whittled down a week on Monday (October 20) but at some stage along the line you’re going to come across a horse called Mindframe, who has an unfortunate ‘UR’ in his form string.
Far from ideal when it comes to a potential BC Classic bid, admittedly, but thankfully Irad Ortiz somehow escaped serious injury after losing contact with Todd Pletcher’s four-year-old soon after the start of the Jockey Club Gold Cup at Saratoga at the end of August, and the horse was immediately reported in good shape too.
He’s got a really impressive profile other than the last-start calamity, claiming his first top-level win over seven furlongs at Churchill in May before rubber-stamping his stamina for two turns as he beat last year’s Breeders’ Cup Classic winner Sierra Leone by a length in the Stephen Foster Stakes.
It’ll be a first trip out West for Mindframe but that’s also the case for 15/8 favourite Sovereignty as well, and Pletcher has reiterated how well his horse goes when fresh.
FORGIVE
Irad Ortiz Jr is heading to the Albany Medical Centre after being unshipped from Mindframe in the Jockey Club Gold Cup.@TVdarrell and @loomsboldly take a look back at the incident in the early part of the race... pic.twitter.com/dr9YauEPea
— At The Races (@AtTheRaces) August 31, 2025
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