Best bets for the horse racing Saturday 25th May 2024

It is a busy weekend of action with plenty to enjoy Saturday, Sunday and Bank Holiday Monday. Haydock is the main meeting here in the UK on Saturday with a couple of Group Two races on their card but the meeting of the weekend is across the Irish Sea with it being Irish Guineas weekend at the Curragh. There is top horse racing across the globe over the next three days and I am likely to have bets running in at least five different countries and a possible trip to the seaside Bank Holiday Monday if Treasure Time is declared; Triple G is truly international.

Horse racing at Haydock Park

The going at Haydock is soft, heavy in places. Race of the day up Merseyside way is the 6f Group Two Betfred Supports Jack Berry House Sandy Lane Stakes at 2.25. Vandeek is odds-on jolly and all being well will win hard held as I am on the Simon and Ed Crisford trained three-year-old at 11-4 for the Commonwealth Cup at Royal Ascot, this being his long planned prep. Unbeaten in four starts at two including the G.1 Prix Morny and G.1 Middle Park Stakes he should take this without breaking sweat before going on the triumph at the Royal meeting all being well. Ed Crisford said this week “Vandeek has done well over the winter and his preparation has gone great. Obviously, starting him on this sort of ground isn’t that ideal, but he needs to run. We know he’s won on soft ground before, so it’s not too concerning, it’s just that it’s his first run of the year and they’re always entitled to improve, but bar that he’s in great order. This has been the long-term plan and the only thing you can’t control is the weather, so it is what it is. We know he goes on the ground, so it’s just a matter of getting him out now and giving him his first run of the year. All athletes will improve for that match practice and he’s entitled to improve for sure, but we’ve done as much as we can at home to get him ready for his first run. Hopefully he’s got a long year ahead of him, so we’ll see how he gets on on Saturday and off we go for the season.”

Best bets for the horse racing at the Curragh

Across the Irish seas they race on good for Irish 2,000 Guineas day. The record of Art Power at the Curragh is well known and the seven-year-old has to be considered for the 6f Group Two Weatherbys Ireland Greenlands Stakes at 2.30, a race he won last season. Regional has an absence to overcome but progressed with every run last year, his season culminating with a neck victory, from Shouldvebeenaring, in the G.1 Sprint Cup Stakes at Haydock. If he picks up where he left off he'll be in the mix. With plenty of early pace in the race, Art Power won’t hang about along with Matilda Picotte and Moss Tucker won’t be far off an early speed, I think Shouldvebeenaring will either be out the back unable to go the gallop with little to no chance or stalking them and picking them all off in the final furlong. I’ve tipped Shouldvebeenaring twice this season already. I didn’t back him in the G.2 Duke Of York Clipper Stakes earlier this month and was relieved when he was beaten a nose (I would have been kicking myself for days); Art Power was fifth in the race. I have plumped for Shouldvebeenaring in the hope they go shit out of a goose quick and he can power to the lead late on and I am on at 5-1 in what could be a cracker of a sprint. 

Second to Notable Speech in 2,000 Guineas at Newmarket on reappearance three-weeks ago Rosallion looks to go one better in the mile Group One Tattersalls Irish 2,000 Guineas at 3.40. Trainer Richard Hannon has liked this colt from the moment he saw him it appears and his run in the race at HQ is the best form in the book. He should confirm Newmarket superiority over his stablemate Haatem, though you can expect to see Jamie Spencer trying his final-furlong charge through the field tactics on that one; the Hannon yard looks to hold a strong hand. Unquestionable looks a leading contender after successfully stepping up to eight-furlongs in the G.1 Prevagen Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf back in November out in the States; Mountain Bear second. He was second to Rosallion in the 7f G.1 Qatar Prix Jean-Luc Lagardere last October losing out in the last 100 yards or so they are perhaps closer matched than the betting suggests though the jolly does of course have match-fitness on his side; that said there is the ‘bounce’ factor to consider with Rosallion just three weeks after Newmarket. River Tiber couldn’t live with Vandeek in the G.1 Prix Morny and G.1 Middle park Stakes last back end, both over six-furlongs, but there’s no disgrace in that and he was running after seven-days off lame in the Morny. If the son of Wootton Bassett stays the mile, there has to be a questions mark but I think he may, he will surely be there or thereabouts at the finish. The colt is the pick of Ryan Moore with the jockey telling his Betfair Column "The placed horses in the Guineas, Rosallion and Haatem, set the standard in here, most obviously Rosallion, who is very much the one to beat. But Unquestionable and River Tiber are not far behind him on their juvenile form. I think Aidan has confirmed that Breeders Cup winner Unquestionable, beaten by just a length by Rosallion in the Lagardere, will probably need the run after a setback last month, so I ride River Tiber. He is a quick horse and he has his stamina to prove beyond 6f, but his pedigree gives you plenty of encouragement that he can stay a mile and the ground looks set to be decent, which will suit him." Aidan O’Brien said this week “We think a mile is within his compass, not guaranteed. We just thought we’d start there and if he didn’t get it, he would go back for the Commonwealth Cup or something like that, he’s not short of speed.” The colt was it should be remembered the favourite for the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf won by Unquestionable before his late withdrawal and I noted a sentence in a recent interview with the trainer talking about his likely runners in which he said “River Tiber is probably the most forward of the three." I can’t back the favourite at the prices so I am on River Tiber at 4-1 in the hope he stays and that the race turns into a bit of a sprint.

Best bets for the horse racing at Belmont at the Big A

I tipped the Charlie Appleby trained Legend Of Time in the 1m½f G.2 American Turf Stakes presented by TwinSpires at Churchill Downs earlier this month where he was fifth. He looks to get his season back on track in the Grade Two 1m1f Pennine Ridge Stakes at 8.39 our time. Having started his three-year-old campaign with three straight wins at Meydan, including a dominant display in the Listed Jumeirah Classic the run at Churchill Downs was disappointing. Charlie Appleby told the Godolphin website “Hopefully, Legend Of Time has gained some valuable experience of US racing from the American Turf Stakes. He raced a bit keenly that day and I think the whole occasion got to him slightly. He seems to have come out of the race well and we are keeping the hood on this time. Based on what we have seen from him to date, and where we hope he is potentially going to end up, he should be very competitive at this level.” Joel Rosario takes over in the saddle and I am prepared to give him another chance. Only a couple of firms have priced-up this morning and he is available at around 9-4 but shop around when the others chalk-up. 

Be lucky