“Went the Day well!” 6 selections and 4 winners today from last night’s preview including Sweet Lightning at 14/1 ending a lean spell for trainer Michael Dods. Byrony won at my lucky track at Kempton completing a hat trick of wins in nursery handicaps.
Turning to tomorrow’s action Satwa Moon was finishing strongly when 3rd at Glorious Goodwood. That race was over 10 furlongs and she shaped as though the extra quarter mile that she faces in the York 1.45 tomorrow would suit. Satwa Moon is quite lightly raced, seems to handle any ground and should go well.
My choice for the 2.15 was going to be Ask but he is now a non runner. A number of the runners in this met at Sandown where King of Wands came out on top. I fancy him to confirm the form and register another win for his in form trainer John Gosden.
Temple Meads has done nothing wrong to date and on the basis that he has some further improvement in him I will burden him with my selection in the 2.50. Hopefully I will be able to say he finished like a train when I write tomorrow’s review!
As you would expect for such a valuable prize the Ebor will take some solving. Dangerous Midge was an impressive winner of the Old Newton Cup over 12 furlongs. He looks as though he will stay the extra distance required tomorrow although there are no guarantees. He has taken a sharp rise in the weights but should not be discounted. Godolphin are really flying at the moment. They are represented by Darley Sun, winner of the Ces last season. He has been running in Group company this term. We know he stays and 16/1 looks too big a price about him. Hillview Boy was 4th in the Magnet Cup here last month and will be better over further. Ideally he likes a bit of cut in the ground. Bernie the Bolt came good at Ascot’s Shergar Cup meeting after a couple of unlucky runs. He looks a progressive sort but the drop back in trip might not play to his strengths. The Irish challenger Elyaadi has strong claims based on his second to Junior in the Ascot Stakes. That looks solid form and he looks the one they all have to beat, although I might chance an each way saver on Hillview Boy if the ground is not too firm.
Course and distance winner Face the Problem looks to have strong claims in the 4.05.
Away from York Cloud’s End looks a decent bet at Folkestone in the 6.00 while up at Hamilton I will put up a couple of outsiders, Veroon each way in the 3.40 and course specialist Casino Night in the 4.50.
By the way don’t miss the Channel 4 coverage tomorrow where hopefully they will feature more of the fascinating interview with trainer Sir Mark Prescott.
We are not too far off the start of the winter jumps season and I have been asked to recommend some guides on horses to follow. There are some good ones about. Both Timeform and Raceform produce horses to follow booklets. The Timeform version is always a good read with entertaining essays on the horses. Raceform tend to include some rather obvious ones but they also have some less exposed types from the smaller yards.
I think Mark Howard’s One Jump Ahead is a first rate guide and a must for any serious follower of the sport. He also publishes updates which are good value. Marten Julian has been writing his guides to the flat and jumps for many years and they are also well worth buying. You can purchase them from the Racing Post web site. One that you may not have come across is the Jumping Prospects book written by scouser John Morris. This is another guide that I can thoroughly recommend. Follow the link below for further information on this one. Anyway, if you buy all those it will give you something to reed during the long winter evenings!
http://www.jumpingprospects.co.uk/
That is about it for tonight but over the course of the next week or two I will be putting on my review of the 2009/10 jumps season as well as a few new features – watch this space"!
Finally, today’s pictures are courtesy of the artist Katy Sodeau.
ahorse 