Best bets for the horse racing Saturday 10th August
I am on a bit of a losing streak since it all went wrong on the last day of Goodwood but hopefully have a few this weekend that will sort that out. It’s another Saturday where Triple G has an interest in races across the globe, in fact all weekend, with some great horse racing across the world over the next forty-eight hours. I actually have more fancies on foreign shores this weekend than here in the UK; never let it be said I am not a man of the world. It’s going to be a busy couple of days and the half-a-dozen fancies for Saturday follow.
Best bet for the horse racing at the Curragh
Ryan Moore is out in Ireland for the afternoon with a decent looking book of rides so naturally you have to take a look at them. All bar one of them are short-priced which is no great surprise. The one I am keen on is Ides Of March in the 6f Revamp Conservation And Restoration Irish European Breeders Fund Maiden at 2.15. The son of Wootton Bassett holds a number of Group-race entries and should get off the mark at the third time of asking for Aidan O'Brien. He lost out in the final furlong over seven in what looked a decent maiden here last month and the drop back to six should prove ideal. Ryan Moore told his Betfair column “He was favourite last time out at the Curragh but was beaten into third by his stable companion, The Lion In Winter. He looks a lovely prospect and the runner up that day, Currawood, is a nice horse of Paddy Twomey's. Ides Of March will be suited by the drop back to 6f and with decent form in the book will go well.” I took 6-4 Friday.
Best bet for the horse racing at Haydock Park
Kieran Shoemark has the chance to claim a big prize aboard the Lord North in the 1m2½f Group Three Betfred Rose Of Lancaster Stakes at 3.00 but I think he is in for more heartbreak. A member of the Dirty Dozen last year, when he didn’t set hoof on a racecourse, after 429 days off track Anmaat will line-up here. The Owen Burrows trained six-year-old gelding landed the 1m1f G.1 Prix d'Ispahan when last seen in May 2023 and anywhere near his best is very much the one to beat. He has gone well fresh in the past so the absence isn’t as concerning as it might be and having waited this long to back him I have to be on Saturday afternoon. I have the 13-8 that was the best about Friday evening.
Best bet for the horse racing at Newmarket
Over at HQ the Group Three 7f JenningsBet Sweet Solera Stakes is the main event. It may surprise you to learn that Aidan O’Brien and Charlie Appleby are both yet to train the winner of this race, it won’t surprise you they both have chances in this renewal and their charges are heading the market. Lake Victoria was a game winner of a 7f Curragh maiden on debut, with the form of that race looking pretty decent with three subsequent winners behind including runner-up Red Letter who won in eye-catching style next time out. The daughter of Frankel out of the dual G.1 winning mare Quiet Reflection has to be shortlisted. Aidan O’Brien said this week “We’re hoping she’ll run a nice race and we think the experience will do her good. We’ve trained a few out of Quiet Reflection, but she’d be the sharpest, being by Frankel, the others were more middle-distance types, she looks the quickest one. Her maiden form looks strong, the second has won well since and she’d be one of our nicer fillies, we liked her when she ran.” Charlie Appleby saddles Mountain Breeze, who has shown plenty of ability so far and is the more experienced with four runs to her name, all over six-furlongs. She won twice on the Rowley Mile early in the campaign before a respectable fourth behind Fairy Godmother in the G.3 Albany Stakes at Royal Ascot; last time she chased home Arabian Dusk in the G.2 Duchess Of Cambridge Stakes at HQ on the July Course doing her best work late on. Charlie Appleby told the Godolphin website this week “We feel that stepping up to seven is the right way for Mountain Breeze and it should produce a bit more improvement. She should be very competitive on the back of what she has already achieved and this will hopefully open up a few more doors for her heading into the autumn.” I took the standout 2-1 Friday night. Andrew Balding’s Flaming Stone is the one that could benefit if the top-two fail to shine. With the stable number ones elsewhere Sean Levey rides for Balydoyle with Pat Dobbs on the selection from Moulton Paddocks.
Best bets for the horse racing at Saratoga
They try again in New York this evening with the two main Turf races last weekend called-off following a deluge of rain. They have been added to this card that was already a decent looking racecard and Charlie Appleby has several in with chances of plundering some more big money races Stateside. No prices are available at the time of writing so I will be getting on as and when I can on Saturday.
The Grade One 1m1½f Saratoga Derby Invitational Stakes at 8.20 our time is the first race of interest to me. Diego Velazquez was due to run last weekend but doesn’t now which makes the race a slightly easier task for Legend Of Time you would think. He started his year with three wins at Meydan and scored on his second US appearance when getting up close home in the G.2 Pennine Ridge Stakes at Aqueduct in May. He got no luck in running in the G.1 Belmont Derby last time and will be looking to put the record straight here; Flavien Prat will be in the saddle with William Buick required elsewhere; Prat rides all three for Charlie Appleby on the card. Charlie Appleby said last week in the build-up “Legend Of Time didn’t get the rub of the green in the Belmont Derby, but he came out of the race well. He has some valuable experience of racing in the US now, and hopefully we can work out a better trip here. He should be a big player.” He added this week “The forecast potential rain at Saratoga shouldn’t be an issue for Legend Of Time, and it could place more emphasis on stamina. He has been training well and I’m hoping that we get a clearer run here compared to the Belmont Derby.”
The mile Grade One Fourstardave Handicap due off at 10.43 now won’t see Master Of The Seas return to action but Charlie Appleby still saddles Ottoman Fleet. The five-year-old has placed on both his previous G.1 appearances, coming home third in last season’s Manhattan Stakes at Belmont Park and chasing home Measured Time in the Jebel Hatta at Meydan in January. He has been thriving in the States so far this summer having won three of his last four starts for Charlie Appleby, including comfortable Churchill Downs victories in the G.3 Arlington Stakes and G.2 Wise Dan Stakes. Charlie Appleby said on the Godolphin “Ottoman Fleet will be fine on slower ground and heads into this in great nick. He won a Listed race at Newmarket in testing conditions as a three-year-old and we used to think he was a horse who would appreciate cut in the ground, although you can’t argue with what he has achieved on a quicker surface. He’s versatile and deserves a crack at a nice race like this.”
Star Of Mystery is in the 5½f Listed Galway Stakes at 11.50 but there is every chance she won’t run in the forecast rain arrives. Charlie Appleby said this week “We will have to keep an eye on the weather with Star Of Mystery, as she wouldn’t want it slow, but I don’t think it will be too soft at Saratoga. If they do get a deluge, there would be a question mark over her participation. She’s proved herself in stronger company this year and we don’t need to risk her on soft.”Be lucky