Find all previous Seymour Biz racing previews in his weekly column: Saturday Horse Racing Tips.
It’s the first Classics of the season this weekend with the 2000 Guineas being staged at Newmarket on Saturday when we will see the best colts of their generation come thundering down the Rowley Mile. They will also be staging the Group 3 Palace House Stakes where Hurricane Ivor makes his seasonal reappearance after flopping in the Ascot mud last October. Also on the card is a couple of very tricky handicaps which I have reviewed below.
All this exciting racing is backed up by a Listed race from Goodwood and the Hunt Cup from Thirsk which is a notoriously difficult handicap to predict with several large priced winners over the last few years.
So here are my thoughts on value bets in Saturday’s races and this week’s Lucky Fifteen.
Saturday Lucky Fifteen
1.50 Newmarket. Jumby
2.25 Newmarket. Fast Medicine
3.40 Newmarket. Coroebus
2.05 Thirsk. Trais Fluors
Bet this lucky 15 now on Bet365
On what can only be described as a Regal card at Newmarket on Saturday, the first televised race is the 1.50 the My Odds Boost On Betfair Handicap where the top weight, Tactical, is owned by Her Majesty The Queen and trained by Andrew Balding. He is having his first run of the season and was a course winner the first time out last year but he has been plying his trade at longer distances than this and that is a concern.
David O’Meara’s Summerghand is getting a bit long in the tooth now and has shown very little while wintering in Dubai, he was however a course and distance winner in a Group race last year, he may be close.
Asjad trained by James Horton won a small race at Redcar two weeks ago and has a 5lb penalty for that victory, which will hold him back.
Kevin Ryan’s Justanotherbottle has been a great servant to the yard but he doesn’t look good enough for this.
I like Roger Teal’s Bickerstaffe but he seems more of a flat track horse such as Ascot. He will come good later in the season.
I favour a proven Newmarket horse and that is Eve Johnson Houghton’s Jumby who has won here twice. He came here earlier this month for his seasonal reappearance and dwelt at the start to finish third. If he gets off at the B of the Bang he can take this.
The Betfair Daily Rewards Suffolk Handicap is at 2.25. This is run over the unusual distance of 9 furlongs.
Charlie Appleby and Godolphin are having a great start to the season and they run Dhahabi here who won at this course last July over 7 furlongs. He looks high enough in the weights.
Andrew Balding’s Notre Belle Bete has won three times on the all-weather this year but he made no impression in the Lincoln and finds himself with a 5lbs penalty in this race.
Roger Varian’s Movin Time won first time out last season here at Newmarket but this is a step up in class on that contest and top weight is an added burden. I am looking down at the bottom of the handicap for my preference here and that is Peter Chapple-Hyam’s Fast Medicine who won at Nottingham a fortnight ago over a distance similar to this, if he takes to the undulating ground he can add to his previous victory.
The first Classic of 2022 is the Qipco 2000 Guineas Stakes at 3.40 and it promises to be a cracking start to the classic season.
Charlie Appleby has a really strong hand here with the warm favourite Native Trail and Coroebus. The former was unbeaten last year then came out for his seasonal debut and won the Craven here at HQ earlier this month. However, Coroebus won the Autumn Stakes last October and seems suited as a Newmarket type and I think he represents the value of this pair.
Aidan O’Brien runs Luxembourg here. He won the Futurity at Doncaster last October and I can’t help thinking he needs plenty of rain to show his best.
O’Brien’s other runner is Point Lonsdale who was well beaten by Native Trail at the Curragh last September when going off the odds-on favourite.
Richard Fahey’s Perfect Power won the Greenham at Newbury two weeks ago and has a chance to make the frame.
A big priced outsider could be Jim Bolger’s Boundless Ocean who won a 10-furlong maiden at Leopardstown earlier this month, but a place is the best he can hope for.
So it is the Appleby team for me as the stable moves relentlessly forward and I take Coroebus for this.
Finally, at Thirsk at 2.05, it is the Fitzdares Thirsk Hunt Cup Handicap run over a mile. The top weight here is Sir Michael Stoute’s Astro King who is making his seasonal debut. He won first time out last year at Nottingham but failed to add to that during the rest of the season.
Another making his seasonal reappearance is Grant Tuer’s Lion Tower who was second here at Thirsk last August. He may be placed once again.
John Quinn’s Empirestateofmind won well at Ripon a fortnight ago in an apprentice handicap and his form figures at the end of last season show he is consistent but this is a major step up in class.
David O’Meara runs a couple down at the bottom of the handicap the best of which could be Pisanello who won at Beverley last week. This is a step up in class but he may be placed.
Mick Channon trained the winner of this last year and may do so once again with Trais Fluors who has been racing in top class company. He was only beaten three and a half lengths in the Spring Cup at Newbury and has dropped far enough down the handicap to be a contender here.
Saturday Lucky Fifteen
1.50 Newmarket. Jumby
2.25 Newmarket. Fast Medicine
3.40 Newmarket. Coroebus
2.05 Thirsk. Trais Fluors
Bet this lucky 15 now on Bet365
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