The horse racing broadcaster offers his best bets from day one of the St Leger meeting at Doncaster.
The four-day Doncaster St Leger meeting gets underway on Thursday with five races on ITV4 and the focus early on in the day is very much with the youngsters.
First up is a very competitive Fillies nursery, where EARTHA (13:50) could well be suited by the step up in trip. When she won at Wetherby over 5 1/2f it took her a while to find full stride, so the drop back to the minimum trip at Southwell last time may not have been in her favour. Drawn in stall 16 she will be committed to racing towards the stands side over this unusual 6 1/2f trip and is still open to more progress than some of her more exposed rivals.
There is a mixture of quality and quantity for the valuable Weatherbys sponsored £300k conditions race that follows and is also run over 6 1/2f so do take note of any draw clues that emerge after the opener. CABURN
4/1
(14:25 Doncaster) is bidding to win his second such race this season having won the Super Sprint at Newbury and fully backed it up when finishing one place ahead of Camille Pissarro in the Gimcrack at York. On both occasions he has finished off strongly and this extra 110 yards may enable him to confirm the form. King Of Bears was too close to the strong pace in the Richmond last time and rates a danger.
The feature juvenile race is the Group 2 May Hill Stakes for fillies over the straight mile where DESERT FLOWER
5/4
(15:00 Doncaster) can retain her unbeaten record. Very well bred she did well to win on her debut at Newmarket given she showed signs of inexperience and it prompted connections to give her a low key second run when she made short work of inferior opposition. There are several progressive sorts in the field but she can give William Buick and Godolphin a big gun to fire at the Fillies Mile later on in the season.
The Park Hill is next up over the Leger trip of 1m 6 1/2f and features the best bet on day one in NIGHT SPARKLE
7/2
(15:35 Doncaster) for whom conditions are ideal. She ran well against the boys at York behind Vauban last time looking not to quite see out the 2m. Back to her optimum trip of 1m 6f on ground that will suit she sets a high standard here and will take a good deal of beating back against her own sex.
Finally, the bonus fifth race is a 10f handicap where this week’s ITV racing podcast guest David Menuisier can have a winner courtesy of PROMETHEAN (16:10 Doncaster). David brings his horses along steadily and Promethean has showed improved form finishing strongly on his handicap debut just failing by a head to catch the winner who had bumped him at the stalls. Compensation awaits here in what is likely to be a strongly run race and suit the closers more than last time.
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