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Updated: 26th August 2008 - GG.com

September's Pearls

Fast and furious is how September’s Flat race action unfolds with the traditional staging of the Betfred Sprint Cup at Haydock on September 6, a race that signifies the close of the summer’s Flat action and the start of the autumn thrills and spills as the season moves towards a close.

The current crop of sprinters are a pretty poor lot with the exception of a resurgent Marchand D’Or, who has swept almost all before him this term, with his action now free from the pain that a knee problem was causing him throughout last season. He just about scraped home in the July Cup but set his stall out as a top sprinter with a fantastic third success in the Prix Maurice de Gheest at Deauville last month. Sadly a slight setback means that he misses Haydock leaving the race wide-open.

Over in Ireland on the same day there will be a high-class renewal of the Irish Champion Stakes at Leopardstown with Aidan O’Brien sure to have Duke Of Marmalade primed from among his legion of classy middle-distance types for a sixth Group 1 success while fellow Irish handler Dermot Weld has mapped out this race as a stepping stone for Casual Conquest to tackle the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe in Paris next month. He will have to go some to spoil O’Brien’s party.

In Paris on September 7 the ultra-consistent Darjina will be a leading player in the Prix du Moulin at the Paris venue after a gutsy effort behind Goldikova in the Prix D’Astarte at Deauville last time. There was nothing but a cotton thread between the pair that day and it may well be close again though if Henrythenavigator runs here, the plot will thicken again.

September’s racing takes a gear change or two with the arrival of the four-day St Leger festival that opens with the Park Hill and May Hill Stakes at Doncaster on September 11. The new styled course passed muster a year ago after opening for business following a lengthy period of re-furbishment but to this observer’s disappointment it was still the same old uncomfortable Donny, with its lack of anywhere decent to sit and its packs of beer-swilling and overweight males roaming around the track.

On course John Gosden may let his star filly Rainbow View take her chance in the May Hill Stakes where she would be hard to beat. On September 12 the usual suspects will be in action for the Doncaster Cup and if Septimus bids to follow-up his success in 2007, victory looks a formality. In the Flying Childers Stakes Finjaan should go close for Marcus Tregoning after his thrilling victory in Goodwood’s Molecomb Stakes.

On September 13 a select field looks the order of the day for the St Leger, the world’s oldest classic and Sir Michael Stoute’s Conduit and Doctor Fremantle afford the Newmarket-based trainer an especially strong hand on Town Moor. Watch out too for Look Here should she make the Leger field. On the same day, Clive Cox’s Pearly Wey is an interesting contender for the Portland Handicap after scoring easily at Goodwood.

After Doncaster, racing’s caravan rolls north for three good days racing at the Ayr Western meeting that has the Ayr Gold Cup, Europe’s richest sprint handicap, on Saturday September 20 as the centrepiece of its showcase meeting. Once again Dandy Nicholls looks the man to be with having landed four of the past eight runnings of this fiercely competitive sprint handicap. The stable’s Valery Borzov, Tajneed and Machinist will be among the leading contenders while that old stager Knot In Wood should also figure prominently.

Over at Newbury on the same day there is the hugely informative John Smith’s Handicap, a race that is must-see viewing for any would-be Cambridgeshire backers. Both Blue Monday and Formal Decree, two recent winners of the first leg of the autumn double, were beaten at Newbury before going on to victory at Newmarket. Watch this race for further clues.

On September 27 the tip-top milers occupy centre stage for the Group 1 Queen Elizabeth 11 Stakes at Ascot and the likely presence of Henrythenavigator, French raider Tamayuz and Raven’s Pass (the trio being readied for a Breeders’ Cup run) looks set to make this valuable prize a must-see race with the Gallic raider a strong fancy. 

In the Fillies’ Mile on the same day watch out for the highly exciting Fantasia while in the Diadem Stakes on Sunday September 28 some of the season’s leading sprinters get the chance to spread their wings and this decent prize often goes to a sprinter that is just short of the very best over six furlongs.

Malcolm Heyhoe writes weekly horse racing articles for GG.COM-Horse racing betting, information, news, results and free daily tips

Archive August 2008