I was looking at the races at Pune on SportingLife.com just out of curiosity. I visited that Indian city a couple of years back on a business trip but was unaware that it had a racecourse. It was quite amusing when I clicked on one of the horse’s names to see the form and found that the list of owners’ names ran to about ten people and the horse had mostly been running at Mumbai, a hundred miles away, and Chennai, seven hundred miles away.
Some disappointing fields at HQ but the feature Sweet Solera has attracted nine. I was quickly put off it when I saw that tail flashing
Lakota Sioux (the form pick on her Chesham third for the Johnstons) was taking on
Novakai (gave trouble at the stalls but won her only start easily beating an odds on Johnston filly).
Amazing how it can still manage to rain in the Manchester area when the soft Southerners are having hosepipe bans. The going at Haydock reported as good to soft.
In the Dick Hern (3:35) there looks to be a money printing opportunity in the form of George Boughey’s
Oscula, who won a decent race over a furlong shorter at Goodwood and appears to have a bundle in hand of her main market rival
Crenelle (third in the Sandringham) – 10lb on the ratings and she beat the Sandringham winner Heredia at Goodwood. The favourite’s third in the 2021 Prix Marcel Boussac is far and away the best form on offer, so why am I avoiding this gift horse? Somebody will be along to tell me that if the race was run 1000 times it would win more than 400 so it is value.
Before that the Rose Of Lancaster (3:00) contains several interesting form lines. Last year’s winner
Foxes Tales has not been in the same form this term and I have burned my fingers on him already so it is hard to fancy a repeat. He was well beaten last time by
Passion And Glory and that one may be the fly in the ointment for favourite
Grocer Jack. The Haggas runner pipped Cadillac at Sandown last time in a five runner race where the front two left the other three in a different parish; however, both he and the bin Suroor runner like to be up front. Could they do each other in? The lightly raced
Royal Champion steps up from a handicap and could be better than has been seen to date but has obviously had his problems. Another that has few miles on the clock is last year’s Cambridgeshire runner up
ANMAAT, who won the John Smith’s Cup first time up and should still be able to account for
Intellogent given that one was race fit when finishing third. From my point of view the main downside of betting on him finding the improvement to step up from handicaps is that my jinx jockey is on board.
I will give Ascot a miss. There is one running that is on my watch list and there looks to be a Haggas’ favourites hat-trick on the card.
Still enjoying it 