Best bets for the horse racing Sunday 26th May 2024
No lazy morning this Bank Holiday weekend with plenty to be getting involved with on Sunday and a plethora of horse racing Bank Holiday Monday as well still to come. The action comes from all corners of the globe Sunday and I am up and at ‘em early with a bet over in Hong Kong before my attention moves back to Europe for 1,000 Guineas races in Ireland and Germany.
Best bets for the horse racing at Sha Tin
Four-time G.1 winner and a favourite at Triple G Towers Rebels Romance looks to add another international prize to his glittering CV in the Group One 1m4f Champions & Chater Cup due off 9.10am our time. The son of Dubawi lines up in the twelve-furlong Group One feature at Sha Tin following an unbeaten winter campaign which culminated with an imposing two-length win over a strong field in the G.1 Dubai Sheema Classic. That victory came on the back of two more impressive displays in the G.3 H H The Amir Trophy in Qatar and the Listed Wild Flower Stakes on the all-weather in the UK. Successful in the 2021 G2 UAE Derby, Rebel’s Romance enjoyed a remarkable turf season for Charlie Appleby in 2022 with five consecutive wins including a G.1 hat-trick in the Grosser Preis von Berlin, Preis von Europa and Breeders’ Cup Turf. Charlie Appleby said in the build-up “Rebel’s Romance has travelled out to Hong Kong well and everyone out there has been delighted with him. We all know what he can do and conditions should hopefully suit, although there is some rain in the forecast. If the same Rebel’s Romance that we have seen on his last few starts turns up, he is the one they all have to beat.” I couldn’t agree more and will be cheering him on with my full-breakfast and cafetière of coffee Sunday morning. William Buick is in town to ride meaning he has missed rides in the UK on Saturday and Sunday which has to be seen as a positive for the six-year-olds chances. To say the bookies aint taking a chance would be an understatement and he is 1-3! It's annoyingly a no bet race.
Best bets for the horse racing at the Dusseldorf
As well as the Irish 1,000 Guineas we also have the Group Two Wempe 104th German 1000 Guineas out at Dusseldorf over the mile at 3.00 Sunday afternoon. Karl Burke has sent Darnation out to Germany looking for the softer ground you would expect, the filly having finished down the field in the 1,000 Guineas at HQ earlier this month on good. Her fifth in the mile G.1 Qatar Prix Marcel Boussac - Criterium des Pouliches at Longchamp last back end on soft is decent form as was her win in the mile G.2 May Hill Stakes at Doncaster also on Soft before that. She can be forgiven the slightly below par effort at Newmarket on ground that was against her on her seasonal reappearance and she will surely go close in this. I am on at 15-8.
Best bets for the horse racing at the Curragh
Auguste Rodin is odds-on for the 1m2½f Tattersalls Gold Cup at 3.10. He has at least 11lb in hand on ratings and should win hard held but after a shocker in the G.1 Sheema Classic in which he finished last I couldn’t be backing him at the price. He has in the past run a stinker and then bounced back to winning ways, see his effort in the G.1 King George VI And Queen Elizabeth last season before coming out and winning the G.1 Irish Champion Stakes next time, but the Bookies won’t be seeing any of my cash at the odds.
The mile Group one Tattersalls Irish 1,000 Guineas is due off at 3.45. Fallen Angel was fancied by many for the 1,000 Guineas at Newmarket but faded out of contention into eighth. I had wondered if she would definitely get a mile and she still has that question to answer. Vespertilio was second behind Fallen Angel in the 7f G.1 Moyglare Stud Stakes here last September and began her three-year-old career finishing third in the G.1 Emirates Poule d'Essai des Pouliches earlier this month on soft at Longchamp in a four-way photo. She certainly got the trip there and was coming home well so clearly has to be shortlisted. Opera Singer will make her eagerly anticipated first competitive outing since winning the Prix Marcel Boussac at ParisLongchamp in October after a spring setback delayed her return meaning she missed the 1,000 Guineas at Newmarket for which she was the favourite over the winter. Aidan O'Brien runs four supplementing Everlasting to join Buttons, Pearls And Rubies and Opera Singer but the latter is surely the best of the quartet with the other three on, dare I say it, pacemaker duties? The daughter of Justify travelled strongly winning the G.1 Newtownanner Stud Irish EBF Stakes over track and trip here in August and in the aforementioned G.1 Qatar Prix Marcel Boussac - Criterium des Pouliches over the mile at Longchamp she led virtually every yard. Ryan Moore told his Betfair column "She had to miss Newmarket because she wasn't ready in time but we are obviously happy with her now. She really came in to herself as the season progressed last year and she was clearly very, very impressive when running away with the Boussac. That makes her the form horse here but she meets dangerous race-fit rivals in Fallen Angel and Vespertilio, so this is a tough return for her. You can easily see a lot of the others in here stepping forward a good deal as well, with maybe Juddmonte's Skellet chief among them. It's a tough race, as I said, but my filly is very good." I would expect team Ballydoyle to ensure this is run at a strong pace and that Opera Singer can outstay the opposition that being the case as I would doubt O’Brien runs her too undercooked. I am on at 3-1.