Find all previous Seymour Biz racing previews in his weekly column: Saturday Horse Racing Tips.
It’s one of my favourite days of racing this Saturday, with the Group 1 Sprint Cup meeting at Haydock, which is backed up, as usual, by a fine card at Ascot, but this year throw into the mix a couple of races from Kempton, where Constitution Hill makes his appearance in a Group race.
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The Haydock card features a Group 1, a Group 3, a Listed race and two Class 2 handicaps, so plenty of choice there.
From Ascot, ITV Racing are just showing two Class 2 handicaps as they have to make room for a couple of Group 3s at Kempton, where the 9-year-old Constitution Hill takes on some top-class horses in Group company for the first time.
So plenty to look forward to this Saturday, and here are my thoughts and this week’s Lucky Fifteen.
Saturday Lucky Fifteen
1.40 Ascot. Addison Grey
2.10 Ascot. Decade Of Time
3.05 Haydock. Pole Star
3.40 Haydock. Big Mojo
Bet this lucky 15 on Bet365
I will begin at Ascot with the 1.40 the Schweppes Handicap. This is a Class 2 contest run over 7 furlongs. William Haggas’s Thunder Call looks the obvious favourite here after his fine season so far with victories at Kempton and York. Since then, he has been placed in hot 6-furlong handicaps at Newmarket and here at Ascot, where he gets a 4-lb age allowance.
Top weight is Richard Spencer’s Two Tribes, who won at Meydan in January but has not lived up to that early-season promise. He has plenty of weight.
Northern Express won for trainer Michael Dods at York in July over 7 furlongs, then ran over a mile at Thirsk in early August and finished 3rd. He drops back in trip here and is a past course and distance winner. He can be placed here again.
Andrew Balding’s Ghost Mode won at Goodwood in early August but could not repeat the feat last week at the same course when he finished 5th.
I give Clive Cox’s Addison Grey a chance to upset the favourite after his fine win at Newbury last month, a deserved one given his good early-season form. He can have a good autumn.
The 2.10 is the tote.co.uk Money Back 2nd Handicap. This is a Class 2 race for 3-year-olds run over 1m 4f. The current favourite is Owen Burrows’s Heyzoom, who won a Class 3 at Newbury in May. He then ran at Royal Ascot and was carried out at the 2-furlong pole, eventually finishing 5th. He is fancied to improve on that placing.
Jack Channon’s Decade Of Time won small races in May and June and has run with credit in two races since.
William Haggas’s Ancestor has won two Class 3s but is upped in class and trip here.
I like the look of Marco Botti’s Archers Bay, who won a Class 3 over this course and distance in August, and he can be placed here despite top weight.
Andrew Balding’s Cape Fear has never been out of the places in 8 runs this season, winning on two occasions, but he is upped in class here. So of these to upset the favourite Heyzoom, I will go for Decade Of Time from the Channon’s yard.
Moving to Haydock and the 3.05 is the Betfair Exchange Old Borough Cup Handicap. This is a Class 2 top-class handicap run over 1m 6f. Top weight and favourite is Charlie Appleby’s Aegean Prince, who has not run since last October at Deauville when he ran second in a Listed race as odds-on favourite.
Ian Williams’s Dancing In Paris won over 2 miles at Ascot last month. The race saw Mountain Road finish third, Hermetic 4th, and Pole Star 5th.
It’s Charlie Johnson’s Pole Star that interests me as he is 4lbs better off here. He raced wide early at Ascot, then finished third at Pontefract last month on firm ground. He has won twice here at Haydock – once over this distance.
Gosden’s Valedictory won at Newmarket and Goodwood in July and May and has run well in defeat since.
William Haggas’s Finalise ran third in a Listed race in Germany last month, his only run this season. He showed good form last season and is sure to go close here.
So in a very open handicap where several have chances, I take a chance with the low-weighted Pole Star to upset the favourite.
Haydock’s only Group 1 of the year is at 3.40, the Betfair Sprint Cup Stakes. This is run over the sharp 6 furlongs of the Merseyside course. The current favourite is William Haggas’s Almeraq, who won the QEII Jubilee Stakes at Royal Ascot in June in a close-fought finish, but he then ran poorly in the July Cup at Newmarket the following month.
James Fanshawe’s Kind Of Blue ran second at York in a Group 2 in May, then finished a humble 11th in the QEII. However, he has run second in this race on the last two occasions and may well be placed once again.
Clive Cox’s Coppull is the only 3-year-old in the race and won a Group 2 at Newbury last month, but that was over 7 furlongs, and he may find this on the sharp side.
Andrew Balding’s Mavelman has been running in some top-class company, including last time at York in a Group 1 where he finished third, two places in front of Edward Bethell’s Paborus. That was a 7-furlong contest.
Jim Goldie’s American Affair won a 5-furlong Group 2 at Goodwood in July but was then beaten out of sight in the Nunthorpe at York, finishing a poor 12th.
Michael Appleby’s Big Mojo looks the one to be on. He won this race last year, and after running disappointingly this season, he came back with a bang when winning a Group 3 at the Curragh last month. That was the ideal warm-up for him to repeat last year’s victory.
Saturday Lucky Fifteen
1.40 Ascot. Addison Grey
2.10 Ascot. Decade Of Time
3.05 Haydock. Pole Star
3.40 Haydock. Big Mojo
Bet this lucky 15 on Bet365
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