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| Punter's Diary by Malcolm Heyhoe |
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| Updated: 30th April 2008 - GG.com |
Marvels In May
A wet and miserable spring has meant a tricky time for punters in assessing the well-being and form of the better Flat performers that have been seen out so far this season but despite the inclement weather, there has been no dampening of enthusiasm for the Guineas weekend which traditionally ignites the blue touch paper for superb racing action in the month of May.
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On Saturday May 3 the 2,000 Guineas takes centre stage and this year’s renewal is a slippery creature to exert a firm grip upon with a case to be made for five or six performers. It is far from cut and dried. New Approach is an uneasy favourite and may find the precocity he showed as an industrious juvenile less of an advantage this time around.
Perhaps Godolphin can supply the winner in Ibn Khaldun but the boys in blue have a wretched record in the Newmarket Classics in recent seasons while Raven’s Pass looked to run out of stamina when just touched off in the Craven by Twice Over, who isn’t even a runner on Saturday. For a bet backers will be on surer ground with Heaven Sent in the Dahlia Stakes.
On Sunday May 4 we have what promises to be a cracking renewal of the 1,000 Guineas which also sees a handful of horses pitched in battle at the head of the market. The domestic challenge is represented at its best by Infallible, Muthabara and Spacious but this trio will surely have their work cut out in seeking to contain the French filly Natagora, who surely holds all the case here being a winner of the Group 1 Cheveley Park Stakes last autumn before making a most pleasing comeback with an authoritative success in the Prix Imprudence at Maisons-Laffitte in April.
Later on Newmarket’s Sunday card there is another chance of an Andre Fabre and Baron Georg von Ullman to enjoy a winner in the Jockey Club Stakes courtesy of Getaway, a bold finishing fourth in the Arc last autumn and a major talent from the Fabre camp. Sixties Icon, a winner of this same race a year ago, is again in contention but has troubling questions to answer after two flops in an abbreviated campaign in 2007.
Chester’s prestigious three-day meeting follows fast on the coat-tails of Newmarket and on Wednesday May 7 the Chester Cup provides the Roodee’s principal betting action. This is a race in which four-year-olds often run well and if John Dunlop’s Double Banded makes the final cut he should be in the thick of things after an effortless success at Nottingham the other day. Dunlop also won this race in 2002 with Fantasy Hill and has found another crack candidate.
On Thursday May 8 Maraahel will bid to land the Huxley Stakes once again for Sir Michael Stoute while Derby hopefuls will be on show in the Chester Vase while on the meeting’s final day on May 9 it is the turn of more Derby prospectors to flaunt their wares in the Dee Stakes.
The sequence of Classic trials continues at Lingfield on May 10 with the Lingfield Derby Trial and the similarly-titled Oaks Trial for fillies on the same day. In the former contest Luca Cumani may use this old staging post as a Derby warm-up race for Curtain Call, his recent easy Nottingham winner. Over at Haydock on the same day the Lancashire course hosts the valuable Swinton Hurdle that invariably draws a high-class field. Over in France on the following day, May 11, Longchamp stages the Poule D’Essai des Poulains (French 2,000 Guineas) and the Poule D’Essai des Pouliches (1,000 Guineas) and Zarkava is confidently expected to capture the latter prize.
Flat racing’s caravan rolls on to York for the three-day Dante meeting and on the opening day, May 14, a clutch of Oaks hopefuls will be on show in the Musidora Stakes while in the Duke of York Stakes, Richard Fahey’s decent sprinter Utmost Respect will seek to make a smooth transition into pattern class.
On May 15 it is the turn of the Derby hopefuls in the Dante Stakes where Henry Cecil’s Twice Over will be a warm order. This Group 2 contest has developed into an influential Derby trial and if Sir Michael Stoute has a runner, backers should take note because the top man can boast a bright record in the race of two winners and three placed horses.
May 17 sees the top milers occupy the limelight in the Lockinge Stakes which has been a good race for Saeed Bin Suroor and the Godolphin team but this time around Peter Chapple-Hyam may have something to say about the dominance of the boys in blue courtesy of Tariq, who is expected to make his seasonal debut here. In France on the following day the Prix D’Ispahan regularly attracts the top mile and a quarter horses and exerts a strong bearing on some of the season’s best ten furlong contests.
Finally, May’s tip-top action almost comes to a close with the Irish 2,000 Guineas on May 24 followed by the fillies’ equivalent, the 1,000 Guineas on the next day. Both races tend to be won by horses that took part in the Newmarket classics. May’s racing comes to a final stop with the Henry 11 and Brigadier Gerard Stakes on May 29 at Sandown. The latter is always an interesting contest and has been earmarked as a possible pattern opportunity for John Gosden’s Pipedreamer.
Malcolm Heyhoe writes weekly horse racing articles for GG.COM-Horse racing betting, information, news, results and free daily tips
Archive April 2008
