Monday, September 22, 2008

Hamilton, Kempton and Leicester

Typical Monday fare today, with some large fields but mainly very moderate sport. Best race at Hamilton, where the ground will again be very testing, is the class 3 handicap for fillies over 6 furlongs at 16.10 CET. The lightly-raced Prescription (Sir Mark Prescott/ Daragh O´Donohoe) is the obvious favourite here; she trotted up last week at Great Leighs last week and races off the same mark now. Artistic License (Mick Channon/ Tony Culhane), who also won at Great Leighs a week ago, and Swift Princess (Karl Burke/ Andrew Elliott), who will like the ground, can chase her home. Main feature at Leiceste is the class 4 handicap over 5 furlongs at 16.20. This looks wide open, and all 11 runners are in with a chance, from top-weight The Jobber,a winner of a similar race last week at Yarmouth, to bottom-weight Cape Royal (Milton Bradley/ Pat Cosgrave), a bit inconsistent these days but certainly capable of winning off this mark. The two to concentrate on could be the consistent Equu ileus Pictor (Jon Spearing/ Jack Dean), just behind The Jobber last time and now 4 lbs better off, and Rasaman (Kevin Ryan/ Neil Callan), 2nd of 20 last time at Doncaster, with The Jobber held. At Kempton´s all-weather fixture, the class 3 handicap ovedr a miöe and a half which closes the card at 18.30 looks very competitive. Detonator (Mark Johnston/ Greg Fairley), whose stable is in terrific form, is unbeaten on the all-weather but has a huge weight for a 3yo. Times Vital (Eoghan O´Neill/ Dean McKeown) beat a large field at Newbury on Friday, and Art Man (Gary and Ryan Moore) also has a great all-wearher record - 5 wins from 9 starts, but all at shorter distances. Hatton Flight (Adrew Balding/ William Buick) was a CD winner last year, but his rating has since shot up after winning 4 successive races in the summer, all on turf.