All of the leading competitors have so far stood their ground for the King George on Saturday. If the weather down south is anything like it is up here in Scotland it will be very quick ground for the weekend.
There is a decent card at Doncaster on Thursday and there are a couple of horses that interest me. The first is Richard Hannon’s Basateen in the maiden race at 6.15.
The Teofilo colt ran an encouraging first race to finish third at Newmarket on soft ground. He was not too cleanly away under Paul Hanagan and ended up having to weave his way into contention behind stablemate Lexington Times.
Both colts are highly regarded by the trainer and have some ambitious entries. Basateen has been given an entry in the 2015 Epsom Derby so you’d have to think he was capable of winning this modest maiden. The going will not have helped him on his debut and he should provide Sheikh Hamdan with another winner in a big week for the famous blue and white colours.
The same colours could make a quick return to the winner’s enclosure at 7.55 courtesy of hat-trick seeking Etaab. William Haggas has taken this filly out of a couple of valuable races because of the soft ground but that should not be a problem on Thursday. Dorraar is 7lbs better off with Etaab for just over two lengths on earlier form but the winner has improved again since.
Leaderene looks nicely weighted to follow up her eight-length Lingfield victory in the 3.15 at Yarmouth. She only has a 6lbs penalty and Joe Fanning should be able to kick for home some way from the finish on the bottom weight. The danger is probably the course specialist The Ducking Stool who must concede over a stone to Mark Johnston’s runner.
The best race of the day is the Silver Flash Stakes at Leopardstown. The Aga Khan’s Raydara looked very impressive last time out but so too did Marsali. With three O’Brien runners also in the field, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see the winner going for the top two-year-old prizes later in the season. Raydara’s debut run when second to Words looks like proving to have been a very smart maiden and victory here would complement the winner enormously.
Leaderene 3.15 Yarmouth at 8-11 Bet365
Basateen 6.15 Doncaster
Etaab 7.55 Doncaster at 11-10 Bet365
