An interesting renewal of the St James’ Palace Stakes in which Aidan O’Brien has a terrific record in of recent years, he saddles Henrythenavigator who puts his unbeaten record as a three-year-old on the line. A winner of both English 2000 Guineas and Irish 2000 Guineas, and no New Approach to take him on, can anything beat Aidan’s charge? [...more]
A solid renewal of the King Stand Stakes this year, now that it’s been upgraded back up to a Group 1 event. Fleeting Spirit bidding to follow up here after breaking the course record en-route to success in the Temple Stakes at Haydock last time is going to be well punted, but is there a chance of her bouncing? [...more]
This year’s renewal of the Ascot Gold Cup see’s Yeats try and make it three in a row in this marathon event. He’s bidding to make history and join the elite but stats tell us that if the seven-year-old son of Sadler’s Wells is going to do this, he’ll need to defy 68 years of history which suggests that horses over the age of six simply cannot win. [...more]
A race where trends provide a useful guide to pinpoint the winner, of this Group 1 for older horses over a mile. The most notable is that only one filly has managed to place in this race since 1990, that being James Fanshawes’ Soviet Song. Red Evie tried and failed last year, Peeress the year before that, Six Perfections and Nebraska Tornado in 2004, and so on. [...more]
Now that second English classic of the season for the three-year-olds has been and gone, it’s time to focus on some slightly lower class racing around the UK Calendar until Royal Ascot that is! However tomorrow evening at Pontefract holds quite a nice Listed prize up for grabs, and hopefully I’m going to unearth that gem hidden amongst the rubble. [...more]
The Champion Bumper is regarded as one of the big gambling races of the Festival. Typical for a good Irish gamble, and on most cases landed. Some classy horses have won this in the past. Willie Mullins has a fantastic record in this race, and always primes a decent string for the event. Anything he sends [...] [...more]
A race won last year by Brian Smart and Helvellyn, a race which saw the disappointment of Holy Roman Emperor, who later returned to form over further engaged in fantastic duels with his rival Teofilo. The question is though, will this year throw up anything similar or perhaps an even better performance awaits? Chris Beek investigates.. [...more]
A race which down the years has been won by some impressive sprinters. Three which spring to mind are, starting with Mitcham who landed a memorable gamble for The Duke in 1999, and in 2001 it was the turn of the classy race-mare Cassandra Go. Choisir took this race in 2003 before landing an historical [...] [...more]
