Best bets for the horse racing this weekend
Going up a bit late on Saturday due to a hangover from the Test Match yesterday! Happy to report Uncle Bryn won and paid for a pint or two and it was a lovely day down in sarf London at the Oval.
I am a bit Godolphin heavy for the two days but I think the team could be on for a big afternoon.
Best bets for the horse racing at Haydock
Hafit cost Godolphin 2.1 million guineas last October at Tattersalls Book One and won on debut at Newmarket last month. He looks a good thing on the Listed mile Betfair Exchange Ascendant Stakes at 1.15. Get on at 11-10 this son of Dubawi looks a prospect and should prove decent.
Global Storm looks to have a very good chance in the 2.55 the 1m6f Betfair Exchange Old Borough Cup Handicap. He has top-weight to shoulder but his placed efforts at Royal Ascot and Newmarket earlier this season looks the best form on offer, I can excuse the run at York where he never really got involved. I have the 7-2.Race of the day is at 3.30 the 6f Betfair Sprint Cup Stakes. Art Power lines up and is as ever considered but best form is on softer going. The cash has been coming all week for Starman and he is now odds-on. The G.1 July Cup winner was third in the G.1 Prix Maurice de Gheest over six and a half furlongs last time on softer ground which to my eyes stretched his stamina. He has obvious claims. I am having an each-way bet to nothing as they say on Creative Force at the 11-2. The Godolphin-owned gelding met with defeat for the first time this season when two lengths behind Starman in fifth when Ed Walker’s stable star came out on top in the Darley July Cup. Just beaten in the G.2 Lennox Stakes last time in a bunch finish. Jockey William Buick said of the Charlie Appleby-trained three-year-old earlier this week “We are on course for the Sprint Cup at the weekend, and he has done nothing wrong all season. I’m very much looking forward to riding him again on Saturday. Starman is a good horse, and we are having to take him on again, but hopefully we can close the gap a little bit with him this time round. It has not really surprised us what he has done this season, because he ran in the Coventry Stakes as a two-year-old. He has always been held in high regard, but he is just a lovely horse to be around.”
Best bet for the horse racing at Thirsk
Charlie Appleby had Mythical Dancer entered up all over the show (Ascot and Thirsk Saturday and York Sunday plus Leicester Tuesday) and the son of Shamardal out of La Arenosa (Exceed & Excel) runs at Thirsk in the 2.15 the 7f Book Your Stay At Cliff Stud EBF Novice Stakes. James Doyle makes the trip to ride and I think he can take advantage of the 7lb he receives from penalised-winner Tuscan and go in on debut. Get on at 5-2.
Best bet for the horse racing at Kempton
Hukum and Passion and Glory were the ones that caught the eye for the 2.40 1m4f Group Three Unibet September Stakes at Kempton in the entries. Hukum runs but will be odds-on.
Best bet for the horse racing at Longchamp Sunday
Highland Avenue might be worth a look in the Group Three 1m2f Prix du Prince d'Orange at 1.33 depending on his price and I will be taking a look when they chalk-up; bigger than 6-4 and I will be on.
Baaeed is to get the chance to test his mettle at the highest level in the Group One Prix du Moulin at Longchamp on Sunday. The William Haggas trained three-year-old was unraced at two but has shown some very promising form so far at three, winning on debut at Leicester in early June, before winning twice at Newmarket, the latter a Listed race. He continued his progress at Goodwood in the G.3 Thoroughbred Stakes winning by six-and-a-half lengths without coming off the bridle. A full-brother to Hukum you might expect him to get better still for further and Shadwell’s racing manager Angus Gold seems to agree saying recently “What probably has surprised me is the speed he’s shown – maybe it’s just class. Before he’d ever ran I’d have thought he was probably going to be a mile-and-a-quarter to mile-and-a-half horse, so to see him doing all this over a mile is hugely encouraging. I guess that just shows class." He is odds-on at 8-15.
What I have done is back the two brothers, sons of Sea The Stars and Aghareed, Hukum and Baaeed in a double across the two days paying just under 6-4.
Be lucky