Friday, July 17, 2009

Hamilton, Newmarket, Pontefract and Kilbeggan (Irish N.H.) this evening

Plenty of racing this evening and some large fields at Newmarket´s popular Friday evening fixture which is followed by a pop concert and is bound to attract a huge crowd. The 10 furlongs handicap for 3yo´s at 20.45 CET looks quite competitive; Mark Johnston´s Yorgonnabelucky /Ryan Moore) was a very easy maiden winner last time, but has been given a high rating by the handicapper. It is not clear that he can beat fellow maiden winners Laaheb (Michael Jarvis/ Richard Hills) and Dangerous Midge (Brian Meehan/ Martin Dwyer) on these terms. The 5 furlongs race at 21.20 also looks very open. Peace Offering (David Nicholls/ Ted Durcan) won this last year, and holds Befortyfour (Michael Jarvis/ Richard Hills) on last year´s for, but Angus Newz (Mick Quinn/ Pat Cosgrave) and Irish raider Icelandic (Frank Sheridan/ Hayley Turner) look very threatening. Both Hamilton and Pontefract stag valuable sprint handicaps as their man event. At Pontefract the race is over 5 furlongs at 20.35 and it could be significant that Richard Fahey, whose horses are in great form, sends his stable jockey Paul Hanagan to ride Total Impact here, though he also has plenty of runners at the Scottish track. Northern Dare (David Nicholls/ Franny Norton) and Le Toreador (Kevin and Amy Ryan) are just two of many dangers. At Hamilton, the 6 furlongs race at 20.55 is even more competitive, and several of these runners have group race form to their credit, for example Knot in Wood (Richard Fahey/ Brian McHugh). Mark Johnston has runners all over today and his Thebes (Greg Fairley) looks a big danger, as is top-weight Tamagin (Jeff Pearce/ Seb Sanders), but the most interesting runner from the German viewpoint is Santiago Atitlan (Peter Monteith/ Declan Carroll). Runner-up in the Goldene Peitsche in 2007, the ex-Wöhler runner has been mainly disappointing since, especially in two runs at Nad al Sheba last winter, but now makes his debut for new connections off a very tempting mark. The on ly jumps racing today is at Kilbeggan in Ireland and top jockeys Tony McCoy, Ruby Walsh and Barry Geraghty are all in action. There are maximum fields in all races and winners look difficult to find.