Wednesday, September 23, 2009

Goodwood, Redcar and Kempton (a.w.)

Flat racing this afternoon at Goodwood and Redcar, and this evening on the all-weather at Kempton. The best event of the day is the listed race over 10 furlongs at 16.45 CET at Goodwood, which has unfortunately only 5 runners and it will be a major surprise if Twice Over (Henry Cecil/ Tom Queally) fails to win here, as he is easily the best horse in the race. Perfect Stride (Sir Michael Stoute/ Ryan Moore) and Fanjura (Barry and Richard Hills) can follow him home.

There is again a small field in the 3yo handicap over 1 mile 3 furlongs here at 17.20, but it still looks quite tricky. Top weight State Banquet (Hughie Morrison/ Steve Drowne) failed to act on the all-weather last time, but has a good chance on his previous form, while lightly-raced Plymouth Rock (Jeremy Noseda/ Moore) is an obvious danger. Sir Mark Prescott, after a slow start, now has his strong in top form, and Point of Light (Stephen Donohoe) can defy a huge weight and win his seventh (!) race in a row in the1 1/2 mile handicap at 17.55. There are some large fields at Redcar and Kempton, but very little quality on show. The best event at Redcar is the claiming race over the straight mile at 16.25. Benandonner (Richard Fahey/ Paul Hanagan) is the class acr here and can concede the weight to Dabbers Ridge (Ian McInnes/ Gary Bartley), who is prbably better at 7 furlongs. At Kempton, Luca Cumani and Kieren Fallon can combine for a double with Luc Jordan at 20.20 and Buffett an hour later.