The horse racing broadcaster picks out his horses and jockeys to watch from Saturday’s racing and provides an update to his stable tracker.
The Coral Eclipse marks just about the halfway point of the season, where focus moves away from the Classics and instead to how the three-year-olds will fare against their elders in the second half of the campaign.
Expectations are that they should fare well. Both Guineas especially look solid and there generally seems to be a lack of high-quality older horses in the UK ranks. That is also reflected in the lineup for the Eclipse, where the younger horses dominate the market headed by Derby winner City of Troy, who bounced back from his woeful Guineas display to win at Epsom and a repeat of anything like that should be good enough here. The forecast rain may mean we don’t get the ‘dead eight’ for each-way betting and given when City of Troy blew out he did so spectacularly, it is not a race that appeals from a betting perspective.
ITV coverage gets underway at 13:50 with the 5f Sprint Stakes where EQUALITY
9/1
can make a bold bid to win the race for a second year in succession. Favourite Live In The Dream was well below par last time and looks short enough over a stiff 5f, and may have to work to get across towards the rail early from stall 9. Equality is well-berthed in 3 to get a good trail in and has enough form with cut in the ground to suggest rain would inconvenience others more than him.
It could be a big day for the owners, as they also have Sandown-loving DUAL IDENTITY
15/2
(14:25). His record at the track is three wins and two placings from six runs and, crucially, he is also versatile in terms of ground requirements compared to others, most notably Perotto and Point Lynas, who would not want too much rain, especially once the ground is opened up during Friday’s card.
The big handicap of the day is the Old Newton Cup, where a combination of a lack of pace and some tricky outside draws for some of the leading fancies means MAGHLAAK
11/1
(15:15 Haydock) could be able to dictate if he settles in first time blinkers. He has twice made the running to win Novice events at Goodwood and Kempton and a below par run at Redcar last time was rather out of keeping with his overall career record. One thing that would very much be in his favour is rain. Haydock’s ground switches quickly and there is significant rain forecast on Saturday morning.
Away from the main action, FRAM CASTLE
/
(20:10 Nottingham) got a nightmare passage at Goodwood on his handicap debut and is far better than that 10th of 13 suggests. It was his first run for James Horton, who is doing a decent job in rebuilding his career with six winners from his last 32 runners.
JOCKEYS FOR COURSES
Our regular look at riders in action at tracks where they have good career records.
Beverley: Silvestre De Sousa (69/340, A/E Ratio 1.26). His 5 rides include hat-trick seeking Golden Myrhh in the 15:25.
Carlisle: Dale Swift (14/77, A/E 1.72). Two mounts including Rainbow Rain in the 18:48 for in-form Tracy Waggott, for whom he has a record of 14/141 with an A/E of 1.22.
Haydock: Callum Shepherd (12/58, A/E 1.97). Three rides include Fouroneohfever (14:05) who made the frame in the King George V handicap at Royal Ascot last time.
STABLE TRACKER
We have two potential runners on Saturday, starting with GAMES PEOPLE PLAY (14:05 Haydock). Added after an eye-catching run in a maiden at Lingfield, he has his third and final run for the tracker and has cheek pieces added after an underwhelming handicap debut as Sandown last time.
The second is the second reserve in the Old Newton Cup, KINGSWOOD (15:15 Haydock), so is unlikely to get a run. He will be well suited by the bigger field after a moderate effort at Pontefract where he saw too much daylight. He was added after meeting trouble at Epsom and one of the Goodwood handicaps where the yard tends to excel looks his best opportunity.
A quiet week in terms of runners, with just the two. Consolidation (second, 3/1) ran a respectable second at Doncaster though he was a little uncoordinated off the bridle, but has two more opportunities. Split The Profit (Unplaced) had his third run at Newbury and so is now removed. Jewel Of London (20:15 Haydock) is also declared to run on Friday night.
There are two additions, starting with Ellaria Sand, who put in a big mid-race move at Yarmouth having been very green early on. This featured a middle sectional of 11.08 and she was the fastest for two consecutive furlongs before understandably getting tired. She will know more next time in similar grade (Restricted C&D).
The second is a low-grade handicapper, Vaunted, who got no run at Bath in the week on her second start for Adrian Wintle, having been purchased very cheaply. She is well-treated on her old form and settled better here before getting badly checked as she was picking up.
Additions: Ellaria Sand, Vaunted
Removed: Split The Profit
A full list of stable tracker horses can be found here.
COLUMN PERFORMANCE 2024
Selections: 33/33.65, A/E 0.98
Jockeys For Courses: 34/36.19, A/E 0.94
Stable Tracker: 17/18.89, A/E 0.90
Overall: 84/88.73, A/E 0.95