Friday's Meetings Newbury Flat 8 Races 1:20-5:20p.m. Doncaster Flat 8 Races 1:30-5:30p.m. Cheltenham N/H 7 Races 2:10-5:40p.m. Wolverhampton(E) A/W 8 Races 5:50-9:20p.m. Dundalk(E) A/W 7 Races 6:05-9:05p.m. Racecards At The Races Racing Post Sporting Life Good Luck
Some really interesting Frankel's debut on Friday: UAE KING runs in the 1.20pm at Newbury - a half-brother to arguably the second best stallion on the planet Dubawi. He was named Watchman earlier this year but had a name change a month or so ago, reminiscent of his grand-father whose name was changed before his debut from Yazaar to Dubai Millennium! They think a lot of this horse. COMMANDER runs in the 2.25pm at Newbury - cost 670,000gns as a yearling and holds a Derby entry. He's a half-brother to dual G1 winning sprinter Regal Parade. MIRAGE DANCER runs in the 3.10pm at Doncaster - a Juddmonte homebred out of dual G1 winner Heat Haze making him a half-brother to this year's smart 2yo Forge (G3 placed) and decent filly Radiator (Listed placed).
In one of the strangest pieces of race planning that I’ve ever seen I see that, tomorrow, we’ve got not one, not two, but three amateur rider heats within the space of 25 minutes (5.05 Cheltenham, 5.20 Newbury and 5.30 Doncaster)! We all have the utmost respect for a Corinthian rider (in fact one, of course, has a special place in the heart of every forum member) but 3 races, for those types, in 25 minutes! Cor bally blinkin’ blimey, say I.
True, Bob. At least we’ve got the younger Mr Waley-Cohen fighting for us punters at Cheltenham. Racegoers in Gloucestershire are set for a treat this weekend as the forum’s favourite Corinthian also looks set to race at the Saturday fixture – aboard Neil Mulholland’s The Young Master in the £50,000 25 Furlong Handicap Chase.
14.45 Cheltenham- Aristo Du Plessis 4/1 Went on a great run over hurdles last year winning 3 in a row and ended up being rated 149 Was probably one race too many for him on his final start but looks the type to be better over fences and will try to force the pace and run from the front
Full views are on the blog (all races), but the two I really like tomorrow are El Bandit and Conas Taoi. The latter could still be floating under the handicappers radar given the size and scope of him.
I'd be really disappointed if ROBIN OF LOCKSLEY does not prove better than this hurdles mark of 120 at some point. Whether that's tomorrow I don't know but he ran well at this meet last year I think and at 11/1 il play.
I like the chances of Garrahalish at Cheltenham tomorrow @ 14s. Workable mark, decent amateur, good ground a plus (by Presenting) and has shaped well enough round here before but without luck. Also had seasonal blow out so should strip fitter tomorrow. Good luck all.
Very interested in Garo de juilley tomorrow in the 4.30. Think could be a serious horse so having a decent go.
Question for the esteemed - How many horses do Bloomfields have in training for the NH season and with whom? Only noticed that Pauling has one tomorrow
I thought they had all dispersed and either been sold or the best had gone to goldophin. I see Ruacana has gone to Tim Vaughn under new owners and obv Three Kingdoms is now at Dermot Welds
Yep, that Leoncavallo is a strange one. Had a couple of runs on the level, this summer/autumn (my regular readers were Ebullient with a capital ‘E’ on the occasion that he won), for Charlie Appleby under the auspices of Go-Dolphin, and now reverts to hurdling and ‘Bloomfields’. I guess connections thought he was incredibly well handicapped re the Flat but a defeat off 71, last time, may have highlighted that the level wasn’t for him given that loss and the fact that he was very decent last term as a juvenile hurdler so they’d turn their attention back to the NH sphere. Big feather in the cap for old boy Pauling that he has been ‘chosen’. The actual Bloomfields dispersal sale only featured 48 horses and they had a lot more horses under that banner than that figure so the ones that weren't sold may possibly make a similar switch at some point in the future. I know a lot, that weren't sold, went to the likes of Appleby and Johnston for a Flat campaign just like Leoncavallo.
Marracudja won well on first outing for Ditcheat TB's, Harry Derham seems to think he's in even better shape for today: "In truth they’re all coming along well, with our current star player Marracudja simmering nicely before taking centre stage at Cheltenham on Friday. Stan (Sheppard) my best friend who rides Cudj everyday tells me that he’s improved since his last run, a thought which makes you wonder what kind of performance he could put in on Friday…" http://ditcheatthoroughbreds.com/category/harry-derham-blog/ I'm very much looking forward to seeing how Garo de Juilley fares too, as already mentioned by the Don Cheltenham 2.45 Marracudja 4.30 Garo de Juilley Throw in El Bandit in the opener, and Tiger Roll in the 3.55 and there's today all wrapped up That's a very nice Lucky 15 in my opinion. Good Luck all.
Interesting runner in the Newbury 4:10 today; CRICKLEWOOD GREEN 12/1 Ran at Kempton on Wednesday night and came from a long way back to be beaten only 2.3/4 lengths. I think Newbury will suit the horse much better as he seems better on turf and going left handed. He also seems to be a horse that needs to see daylight and things get very crowded up the running rail at Kempton. Very interesting that he is turned out less than two days later. He is also a C&D winner!
