Tag: Telescope

Newbury Preview – Saturday 16th May

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Notarised (tipped at 12-1) kept us ahead of the bookmakers at York on Friday and the show moves on to Newbury. The feature race is the Group 1 Lockinge Stakes at 3.45 with a huge field of eighteen runners set to go to post.

Night Of Thunder is the form choice having won the 2000 Guineas last season for Richard Hannon. He went on to chase home Kingman in the St James’s Palace Stakes at Royal Ascot and was an unlucky loser at the same course on his final start. He is having his first run since October and there may be better value elsewhere.

I have followed Aljamaaheer over the past couple of seasons and was surprised to see Roger Varian run him in the top sprint races last season. He was placed in this race back in 2013 and went on to finish a close second in the Queen Anne Stakes over a mile. He looks overpriced at 25-1 after finishing an unlucky second at Leicester on his seasonal reappearance.

It may also pay to have a little each-way on Moohaarib who won with plenty in hand at Ascot last time. He had previously hung away in the closing stages of the Lincoln but looks just the type to run well in a race like this.

Telescope looks difficult to oppose after his fine run at Newmarket last time. He was just caught on the post by Second Step but will strip fitter in the Aston Park Stakes and has 6lbs and upwards in hand of his rivals here.

The 3.10 is the London Gold Cup and the one that interests me here is the bottom weight Dutch Uncle. Ed Dunlop’s colt was beaten by Jack Hobbs in December before winning his maiden at Wolverhampton. He ran a cracker when second to Subcontinent at Doncaster first time out and the winner has gone in again since. The form received another boost when King Bolete won a hot handicap on Friday and Dutch Uncle has to be the selection here at 9-1.

Our final tip at Newbury on Saturday is Pamona in the Listed Fillies’ Stakes at 4.20. Luca Cumani’s filly was an impressive winner at Newmarket in October and looks destined to better things.

Telescope 2.0 @4-5 Bet365

Dutch Uncle 3.10 @9-1 Paddy Power

Aljamaaheer 3.45 @25-1 Stan James (each-way)

Moohaarib 3.45 @14-1 Bet365 (each-way)

Pamona 4.20 @7-2 William Hill

Newmarket Saturday Preview

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Last week we previewed the 2000 Guineas at Newmarket and came down on the side of Gleneagles at 9-4. Surprisingly, Aidan O’Brien’s colt can be backed at 7-2 with Paddy Power on the eve of the first classic of the 2015 season.

Highland Reel has been diverted to the French Guineas having drifted to 50-1 on Betfair prior to the announcement from Ballydoyle. Stable companion Ol Man River has come from nowhere to be third favourite at around 6-1. We shall keep faith with the proven two-year-old form of Gleneagles and hope that the market moves are wide of the mark.

There is also a fine supporting card and Sir Michael Stoute and Ryan Moore can get favourite backers off to a good start with Top Tug. He is very lightly raced and matches the profile of previous winners of this race for the powerful Newmarket yard.

The Palace House Sprint does not look particularly strong this year and it may be worth taking a chance on Goldream to successfully step up in class. He was tough and consistent last season for Robert Cowell who is an expert with sprinters. There is a very disappointing turnout for the Jockey Club Cup with Telescope facing only three rivals.

He is top class on his day, as he showed when running away with the Hardwicke Stakes at Royal Ascot. He won’t be at his peak for his seasonal debut and Pether’s Moon is the one most likely to give him a race on Saturday.

Henry Candy was a relieved man when Limato came out and won at Ascot in midweek. He sends out another potentially top class sprinter in the 4.20 with the unbeaten Twilight Son. He won both of his races as a two-year-old, including a victory over Desert Force. Richard Hannon’s horse came out and won well at Newbury but now finds himself 11lbs worse off with Twilight Son. Candy’s charge only just got up to win at Thirsk but was trapped at the back of the field with two furlongs to run and did well to make up the ground.

Azmaam was very unlucky at the Craven meeting and can reverse form with Rocky Rider in the 4.55 while Godolphin’s Greatest Journey looks the value bet in the closing race. He was only just denied by Cape Clear Island last time and could be even more effective over this two furlongs shorter trip.

Top Tug 2.00 @9-2 William Hill

Goldream 2.30 @6-1 Betfred

Telescope 3.05 @4-7 Stan James

Gleneagles 3.45 @7-2 Paddy Power

Twilight Son 4.20 @13-8 Betfair

Azmaam 4.55 @7-2 Paddy Power

Greatest Journey 5.30 @6-1 Paddy Power

York Wednesday Preview

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The Ebor meeting at York kicks off on Wednesday with a top quality card including the reappearance of English and Irish Derby winner Australia.

His Epsom form may have been devalued since but there is no doubt he is the star middle-distance colt of his generation. The Irish Derby told us nothing as it was little more than a training exercise for Ballydoyle and Aidan O’Brien has expressed some concern over the colt’s fitness. He is also dropping back to a mile and a quarter and meeting older horses for the first time.

He should comfortably see off the other three-year-olds but it will be interesting to see how he matches up with Telescope and Mukhadram. The latter should come out on top in that particular clash with this trip much more to his liking than the mile and a half at Ascot last time. He stuck on gamely enough but is at his best at a truly run ten furlongs. He should provide a good test but Australia’s pace can prove decisive.

His closest pursuer at Epsom was Kingston Hill who goes for the early Great Voltigeur Stakes over the Derby distance. Roger Varian pulled him out of the Irish Derby owing to the quick ground and it would be ironic if he runs him here on a similar surface. He really does like a bit of give in the ground so looks a slightly risky proposition unless there is overnight rain.

The Acomb Stakes looks well above average with some promising colts assembled. Top of the list is Basateen who earned Derby quotes when winning by eight lengths at Doncaster last time. He already looks as though he wants a proper stamina test so I’m expecting Paul Hanagan to have him at the head of affairs from the start.

Growl and Dutch Connection both won nicely last time and I was particularly taken with the latter. It may have been a moderate race at Goodwood but he was always moving easily and looks worth an each-way bet here.

The card opens with the kind of race where a pin is as likely to find the winner as hours of form study! Goldream and Move In Time fought out a great finish in the Shergar Cup and are handicapped to dead-heat but I’m just swayed by the early money for last year’s winner Bogart.

It doesn’t get any easier for punters later on but Bantam could be the answer to the two-mile handicap. Ed Dunlop has booked Ryan Moore for the ride and the filly may have needed her run at Ascot after a lengthy absence. She is not proven over this trip but shapes as though she will get it.

Finally, I have to invest in Prize Exhibit after her nine-length demolition of a couple of promising colts at Nottingham. She looked as though she may not enter the stalls at one point but settled well in the race and won pulling a cart. A 6lbs penalty won’t stop her if she is in the same frame of mind.

Bogart 1.55 at 16-1 Stan James

Basateen 2.30 at 5-2 BetVictor

Dutch Connection (each-way) at 14-1 William Hill

Kingston Hill 3.05 at 6-4 Bet365

Australia 3.40 at 4-6 Skybet

Bantam 4.20 at 8-1 Paddy Power

Prize Exhibit 4.55 at 9-1 Bet365

King George 2014 Preview

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A busy sporting weekend had its ups and downs for Betcirca followers. Tiggy Wiggy’s brilliant win at Newbury covered our expenses on the horses while Jim Furyk gave us a handsome each-way return at odds of 70-1 in the British Open.

The racing is poor this week before the big Ascot card on Saturday featuring the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes. I take it that it is no longer sponsored by the Oppenheimer family as the “Diamond” seems to have been removed.

The favourite is Sir Michael Stoute’s Telescope after slaughtering his rivals at Royal Ascot by seven lengths. There is a real sense of deja-vu about this horse as he is trying to repeat Harbinger’s victory in 2010 in the same colours. No sooner had Highclere believed that they had the best horse in the world than he was injured and packaged off to stud. There have been some strange King George’s in recent years and that was certainly one of them with Derby and Arc winner Workforce running a total stinker.

Telescope has been built up and knocked down a couple of times already in his short career. He was always struggling to make the Derby line-up last year and Stoute eventually gave up the ghost and then defended his charge after a shock defeat at Haydock. You would have thought that a nine length defeat at the hands of Noble Mission would have put paid to the “wonder horse” treatment but we are back here again after Ascot.

We will never know what John Gosden thought of Sheikh Hamdan’s decision to pull Taghrooda out of the Irish Oaks on Sunday but I’m guessing that he was not best pleased. JG now has three runners here if the supplemented Eagle Top and Derby third Romsdal take their places. All of the evidence suggests that Taghrooda would have won at the Curragh and she has a big chance here. Eagle Top needs to come out and prove that it was no fluke at Ascot while Romsdal looked more of a Leger horse at Epsom.

A more likely threat to the favourite is Mukhadram after his well-deserved Eclipse victory. This will be his first start over a mile and a half but he has every chance of getting it. He settled well at Sandown and there could well be pacemakers in here which will give him a good lead. You would just worry about the last furlong or so. The bookies aren’t giving much away with the front two so it may be worth going each-way Mukhadram at 12-1.

Mukhadram @12-1 BetVictor

Each-way ¼ odds, 1,2,3

Royal Ascot Saturday Preview

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Royal Ascot comes to an end on Saturday with the Diamond Jubilee Stakes being the headline event. With the possible exception of Black Caviar’s sensational visit, this race seems an odd one to feature on the closing Saturday. In fact, I am surprised that they haven’t moved the Ascot Gold Cup to the Saturday as most of the other traditions have gone out of the window in recent years!

The Gold Cup was the highlight of the week for me. What a game effort by Estimate to get so close to winning it for a second consecutive season for Her Majesty. I thought that last year’s runner-up Simenon hinted at a return to form by making up a good deal of ground in the home straight. With Brown Panther also running well on ground faster than he likes, there are plenty of options including the Melbourne Cup again for both horses.

My regular readers will know that I have followed Aljamaaheer throughout his career and that he has seldom let me down. He is quite an easy horse to read in that he loves fast ground, almost always pulls too hard and just barely gets home over a mile. With that in mind, it is not that surprising that Roger Varian has trained him for the sprints this season.

His first attempt came at the Craven meeting where he duly missed the break! It was probably the one thing that could possibly beat him that day, rather like England failing to mark the one player on the pitch capable of beating them on Thursday night!

Hopefully Paul Hanagan will make sure that he gets away on level terms and he will surely run a good race. He is not that easy to win with as he tends to only win in photographs but he looks solid each-way value.

My other bet on the Ascot card is for Sir Michael Stoute’s Telescope in the Hardwicke Stakes. Stoute has only got two top class middle-distance colts and it seems odd that they face each other here. Hillstar could be the biggest threat as he handles this quicker ground but Telescope looked a class act at York last year and we’ll give him one more chance. His form with Noble Mission doesn’t look so bad after that horse won a Group 1 in Ireland.

Telescope 3.45 Royal Ascot at 9-4 Paddy Power, BetVictor

Aljamaaheer 4.25 Royal Ascot at 9-2 Paddy Power

Chester Thursday Preview

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The feature race on day 2 of the Chester May meeting is the Chester Vase, a recognised Derby trial. Nothing leaps out of the page as an Epsom candidate this year, although the most likely candidates are supplied as usual by Aidan O’Brien.

He saddles Carlo Bugatti and Orchestra here and it is interesting that Joseph is on board the former who will wear blinkers for the first time. You wouldn’t normally take that as a good sign, especially for a horse having only his third race. It is in response to his fourth place behind Fascinating Rock in the Ballysax Stakes at Navan last month.

I would much rather side with Ryan Moore’s mount, Orchestra. He is an imposing son of Galileo who won his maiden at Tipperary in August after chasing home Free Eagle on his debut. He is currently 40-1 for Epsom but O’Brien is not averse to running several in the classics so a good show here could bring him into contention.

The card kicks off at 1.45 with a competitive handicap featuring several familiar names. Those with good memories will recall that Yeager did us a good turn at Ascot last season before being ambitiously aimed at Arlington. He flopped there but was hampered during the race and made a pleasing return to form at Lingfield last month. He has a good draw and is worth a chance at around 5-1. Squire Osbaldeston and Makafeh are others to note for the coming weeks.

The Huxley Stakes sees a rematch between Noble Mission and Telescope from Sandown. The former had nine lengths to spare that day and is it realistic to expect a different outcome here? The Stoute team seem to think so but he looked beaten fair and square that day and I expect Noble Mission to confirm the form. The one most likely to spoil the party is Ektihaam who looked promising until slipping up at Royal Ascot last season.

The final televised race is the seven furlong handicap at 3.15 and Captain Bob looks the one to be on here. He ran some good races as a two-year-old without winning but starts the season on a good handicap mark as a result. He won without Dettori having to use his stick at Warwick, bowled along nicely at the head of affairs and should go well here.

Yeager 1.45 Chester at 6-1 BetVictor

Noble Mission 2.15 Chester at 11-4 Betfair

Orchestra 2.45 Chester at 4-1 Paddy Power

Captain Bob 3.15 Chester at 5-1 BetVictor