Wednesday's Meetings Beverley Flat 8 Races 2:00-5:30p.m. Fairyhouse Flat 7 Races 2:05-5:05p.m. Haydock Flat 7 Races 2:10-5:10p.m. Yarmouth Flat 8 Races 2:20-5:50p.m. Kempton(E) A/W 7 Races 6:00-9:00p.m. Hamilton(E) Flat 7 Races 6:15-9:15p.m. Racecards At The Races Racing Post Sporting Life Good Luck
Young Ryan seems to be popping up the M6 to ride a 5yo gelding, called Song of Namibia, for his stable on his debut. Not sure I've ever seen a Stoute (or for that matter Ballymacoll) 5yo debutant but that is what we have in the first at Haydock. No ordinary debutant mind you as he's a Cape Cross half-brother to the Group winners Glass Harmonium and Arab Spring. Was in training with Stoute as a 2yo and as a 3yo but disappeared off the roster after being gelded as a 3yo. No sight of him as a 4yo so I presumed he was dead or not capable of being trained but suddenly he's back in the ranks as a 5yo. Will be interesting to see why they have bothered. Of course what got Moore up there is his ride in the 2nd on Fair Eva: Frankel's 4th produce to race. She is probably not so obviously well-bred as the 3 we've seen so far but she is the first Juddmonte representative. Looking back a few generations and you get a mare called Musicanti who was the dam of the very good 2yo Distant Music, who was just about the leading 2yo colt of 1999 when he won the Champagne and Dewhurst Stakes. Later on the card Ryan dons the Royal colours and rides Forth Bridge for Bell. This colt may go close but the Royal advisers might be a little embarrassed that they got rid of this one's mare Sally Forth. She was a granddaughter of Daralybayda who just happens to be the great granddam of Almanzor. Coincidentally the Aga Khan has got rid of both dams of the weekend's Derby winners: it's a tough call what you keep and what you get out of.
Looks like the lads (from the forum, not the Coolmore wannabes) have a top jock booked for their soirée at Newbury on Thursday. Time to apply some 3in1 to my rusty wheelbarrow perhaps.
Been waiting for Deany Boy to hit form for a while and he finally has since Saturday after i got the nod for Caspian from one of my cousins (has connections to the owners of the horse not the stable), but Winstons been riding beautifully for the last 2 months. And Ivory is now hitting his annual purple patch, He's had 6 runners since saturday, 4 winners (20/1, 11/1, 16/1, 9/4), a second (to his other horse in the race) and a 5th. Sends 3 to Kempton tomorrow, 7pm - Cappananty Con, 8 30 - Varsovian, 9 00 - Tesoro. 14/1, 14/1, 7/1 Tesoro on paper has the best chance, and Winston rides the 7pm one but then sticks around for the 9pm one, albeit The Burnham Mare is huge @ 20/1 in that 9pm race. But Varsovian for me has the best chance, its been teasing another win for a while and had an excellent patch around this time last year where it reeled off a lot of wins, its now back on its last winning mark, and clearly the best horse in the race, and should take all the beating, my one side note would have been that Renato Souza had gone about 2 years without a winner but Ivory even got him back on the board with a 20/1 winner on saturday and he gave it a lovely ride so hopefully his confidence will be back and he won't go back to being **** like Paul Booth (Why ivory lets these guys ride for him i'll never know, Shane Kelly was great and Winston is too) Anyway, e/w trixie and singles, should hit one winner
Kempton double: 6:30 CAPE SPIRIT 7/1 8:30 RUN WITH PRIDE 12/1 Both nibbled at early, both kept on well with promise in their last races respectively.
First at Yarmouth is a funny market. The last time out winner is 9/1 against a field of debutantes. Looks a very fair each way bet to me. Miss Rosina 9/1 2.20 Yarmouth
Aside from FAIR EVA there are a few other interesting newcomers today: In the same race MISS INFINITY runs for Mark Johnston, a half-sister to G1 winner THE WOW SIGNAL. In the first race at Haydock an interesting runner is the Ballymacoll homebred SONG OF NAMIBIA (half-brother to G1 winner GLASS HARMONIUM) who is making his debut as a 5yo! I can only presume that he has shown something at home for them to warrant keeping him in training so long, especially after gelding him.
In the Fair Eva race there is also Hazy Manor who is a full-sister to Humphrey Bogart and whose dam is a half-sister to Harzand's dam. I will be very surprised if this Namibia horse wins as there look to be some useful sorts in such an inconsequential race. Was pleased to see that his year older brother Arab Spring got an Arc entry this week. Haven't seen him since May last year!
Arab Spring ran at Chester this year, winning impressively despite a Group penalty. I think he will win a big prize this year. EDIT: I am talking out of my arse. It was another one of his- CANNOCK CHASE.
Another last time out winner that looks way to big at 14s goes at the testing Beverley track and it's interesting to see Mulrennan . 330 victoire de lymphar 430 also fancy make on madame and so it's war to both go close but can't pick between them so rf it is
Fair Skies in the first at Beverly 20/1 e/w. Looks a massive price for a top yard. It won't have to be a world beater to go close in this.
2:00 Beverley - Springforth 11/4 2:10 Haydock - Tarseekh 7/1 2:20 Yarmouth - Ardad 4/1 Singles, doubles, trebles in first 3 races
What a start from Frankel so far. I hope they keep developing as he did- they've all looked green to me despite winning well!
Charlton almost played down her chances of winning. The only comparable high profile sires to Frankel's first runners were the 1976 debuts of Brigadier Gerard and Mill Reef 2yos. They were nothing like these debuts and in fact Mill Reef was at first exceedingly disappointing. His 2nd crop was better though and BG never really go going after his first year. An amazing start for such a high profile sire who has been mostly bred to miler/staying maresock (Fair Eva is one of the exceptions). I would think it can only get better and his fee could double next covering season.
As I said on the Frankel thread, the entries for the 2yo races at Royal Ascot will come out over the next few days and will make interesting reading.