The Weekend Preview

The Weekend Preview
By Red

Red looks forward towards the weekend racing coming from Ascot and Wetherby (and maybe even Carlisle on Sunday ).


I've already had a look at the big one on Saturday, the Charlie Hall (which you can find here), but there's plenty of other action, with a mares listed hurdle and the West Yorkshire hurdle at Wetherby on Saturday, the Sodexo Gold Cup and a pair of listed races at Ascot all on Saturday and a potentially exciting race up at Carlisle on Sunday.

Starting with the Mares Listed race at 2.10 on Saturday, Miss Crick seems the obvious place to start with four wins in her last five. Alan King's mare by Midnight Legend went up 13 lbs over the summer, but showed no signs of stopping when she breezed up by 8 lengths at Worcester latest. Up another 12 lbs for that could be a struggle, but she's in hot form. The other top rated horse in the race is Stephanie Frances, who has been showing great form over fences, but has some decent hurdles form as well. The Skelton yard are in good from and she wasn't disgraced in the Mares hurdle at Cheltenham, finishing 8th, 10 lengths behind Vroum Vroum Mag, when a 40/1 shot. Midnight Jazz and Card Game might have a say in proceedings, but my preference would be to go with the Skelton horse. 

The West Yorkshire hurdle at 2.45 had the potential to be an absolute belter if they all turned up. But with the likes of Saphir Du Rheu and Unowwhatimeanharry going elsewhere, the race seems to revolve around Ballyoptic. He has already been touted as a potential World Hurdle winner and he showed plenty of speed to go with the stamina to claim a 2m3 race at Chepstow at the start of the month. He looks a stout and game type and this will be a interesting race for his future. The Romford Pele can do a bit of everything and won well last time out. Rebecca Curtis had some well documented issues last year, but she looks to have her stable in fine fettle early doors and she has some well handicapped horses as a result. Certainly wouldn't rule this one out on that basis. I would've ruled out Native River and Oscar Rock in a stronger race, but both are stout stayers and although perhaps better over fences, they shouldn't be ruled out completely. Especially the former is a really good horse and has won some good hurdles races in the past. I don't see Lil Rockerfeller staying three miles even in this sort of race. Silsol and If In Doubt are both decent horses and could get involved, but for me this one should be all about Ballyoptic.

Elsewhere on this card, Double W's could get shocked by Holly Brush Henry in the novice handicap, while Royal Vacation should go well in the Novice chase.

Over to Ascot then. The listed chase looks weak to me and will perhaps be more of a watching brief, but the handicap hurdle could be an excellent race. Diego du Charmil, Cloonacool, Sternrubin & Ch'Tibello all come here with plenty of chances. The latter won the Scottish champion hurdle in good style, despite hitting the last, but has to shoulder top weight as a result and could find that tricky. C&D winner Sternrubin deadheated in the Ladbroke over C&D after winning the international, but is still high in the weights after those and was well beaten by Ch'tibello in the Scottish CH. Diego Du Charmil won the Fred Winter before being well beaten by Apple's Jade at Aintree. But he's already made a winning reappearance this season when winning at Chepstow at the start of the month, staying on well. Cloonacool was well fancied in a listed race at Market Rasen, but he fell when coming with a challenge. Should still be well weighted and could run a big race. But the one that I'm going for is Modus for Paul Nicholls. The in-form Harry Cobden claims three which brings him down to a nice weight. He disappointed in his last two starts, but there's a race in him and if he can rediscover his best bumper form then he could be very well handicapped. It's a big if and things don't always work out that way, but I've just got that nagging feeling is ready to make his mark. Time will tell.

That leaves the Sodexo Gold Cup, which for me is a two horse race, between the top two in the race. Tea for Two won the Feltham at Christmas, but disappointed subsequently in the Scilly Isles. But he was behind some good horses that day and if he's fit to go off a break he has his conditions to show up well. Top weight could be an issue, but Lizzie Kelly claims five and she's no slouch. Saphir du Rheu goes here instead of his other options and he could be well-in on his very best. The question is if he still has that, and I think he might struggle. He has to show that the Mildmay win was no fluke and he can mix it with the best. At the same time, he's not mixing it with the best here and a fair effort could see him home. Of the others, Voix D'Eau, Fourth Act and Killala Quay could go well, but it's hard to see them beating the top two for me.