Best bets for the horseracing at Newmarket the Dubai Future Champions Festival Day Two
Technical issues down at Triple G Towers mean I am going up later than usual with the weekend bets - apologies. Day two of the Dubai Future Champions Festival at Newmarket sees another batch of potential star thoroughbreds running. The going at Newmarket is now officially soft but it should be a brighter, if chilly, day. We also have some top class racing out in America and I fancy one across the pond.
Best bets for the horseracing at Newmarket
They get underway at 1.25 on Saturday with the mile Group Three Emirates Autumn Stakes. Godolphin has won six of the last seven editions of this with the likes of 2022 2,000 Guineas winner Coroebus and multiple G.1 winner Ghaiyyath. Charlie Appleby trained both sons of Dubawi and he is represented by Ancient Wisdom this year, another son of Godolphins outstanding stallion. All three of his runs thus far have been over 7f. He won his first two starts before finishing third last time in the Listed Pat Eddery Stakes at Ascot behind subsequent G.1 Qatar Prix Jean-Luc Lagardere scorer Rosallion. The form of that race is red hot with the second winning a Listed race at Haydock since and the fourth a Group There at Newmarket and the fifth also winning at Listed level. The step-up in trip should suit and the €2,000,000 yearling purchase can gain his first bold black-type here. I am on at 15-8. Charlie Appleby said “Ancient Wisdom has done very well for a break since Ascot. I felt he lost little in defeat that day as seven furlongs was on the sharp side and he was still learning. He has done very well since physically and it was always the plan to give him some time off ahead of an autumn campaign. His work has been good and he should handle testing conditions if the rain does come. We feel that he will be a strong player.”
The race of the day is of course the 7f Group One Native Trail's Dewhurst Stakes. City Of Troy is odds-on having won both starts to date easily including the G.2 7f Superlative Stakes last time. The form of that race is average, the re-opposing Haatem the only winner to come out of the race, but you had to be taken by the way the colt won. Iberain is the danger to the jolly and I know quite a bit about the colt. Treasure Time, the two-year-old I have a handful of shares in, ran in the Newbury race Iberian won on debut so I got a good look at him! I subsequently tipped him when second in the G.2 Vintage Stakes at Goodwood when second staying on stringy begin Haatem and again when he won the G.2 7f Champagne Stakes at Doncaster - the aforementioned G.1 Qatar Prix Jean-Luc Lagardere scorer Rosallion back in third. If it wasn’t for the Ballydoyle hotpot he’d be a relatively short-price for this I would suggest and if the jolly falters is the obvious one to take advantage. He has already proved he can handle soft and I have backed him, perhaps more in hope than anything, that the jolly might not be the flying machine many think he is. I have a bit of the 100-30.
I know a few people who have fancies for the Cesarewitch Handicap but I am struggling to pin my colours to just one in this line-up and will watch rather than bet on it.
The 1m2f Group Three Ghaiyyath Zetland Stakes looks at the mercy of Arabian Crown to me. The stable have won this the last twice and the colt arrives off the back of an easy win in the mile Listed Stonehenge Stakes at Salisbury in mid-August looking very much like the type that would want further. Charlie Appleby said of his charge “Arabian Crown brings a nice profile into this. He has a pedigree and running style that suggests stepping up to a mile and a quarter will produce further improvement, so he should be very competitive.” I am on at a rather skinny 5-6 but he looks a solid bet. Over from Ballydoyle Curragh scorer Gasper de Lemos is the one feared most.
Best bet for the horseracing at York
Up at York Dirt Dozen member La Yakel goes in the 1m2f Coral Racing Bet Bundles Handicap. He is up to a mark of 99 now following his win at Doncaster last month but I still think there is more to come from him yet. He is still lightly raced in the grand scheme of things, the yard is in fair form and Cieren Fallon is riding well. I am on at 5-2. Raceshare owned Scampi is feared though he would require a career best off 96.
Best bet for the horseracing at Keeneland
At 10.16 our time Mawj makes her first appearance since winning the 1,000 Gunieas back in may in the Grade One 1m1f Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup Stakes presented by Dixiana. She has missed the majority of the European summer with a chest infection but is back fit and well and being aimed at the Breeders Cup. Saeed bin Suroor said on the Godolphin website “Mawj had a break after she was forced to miss Royal Ascot, but she has been working nicely and travelled out to Keeneland without any problems. Oisin Murphy rode her in her last piece of work in Newmarket, which went well, and we have been pleased with her preparation. This will be her first try at nine furlongs, but she should be fine with the trip on a flat track like Keeneland, and we are looking forward to seeing her back on a racecourse. The plan is to see how she runs here before deciding whether to look at the Mile or the Filly & Mare Turf at the Breeders’ Cup.” Oisin Murphy has made the trip to ride which has to be seen as a positive and even after her enforced time off she will surely prove too strong for the locals. I am on at 6-4.
Be lucky