Newmarket Friday and Saturday

Newmarket stages two of its best cards of the year today and tomorrow, with 2yo´s in the spotlight today. The Cheveley Park Stakes for 2yo fillies (Group One) at 15.30 CET and the Middle Park Stakes (Group Two) at 16.05 are the highlights and both look very competitive. Obviously it would be nice if the sponsors won their own race and we give Hooray (Sir Mark Prescott/ Seb Sanders) a good chance in the fillies´ race, but Khor Sheed (Luca Cumani/ Kieren Fallon) and Ragsah (Saeed bin Suroor/ Frankie Dettori) look threatening. The Middle Park is just as tricky, we give slight preference to Strong Suit (Richard Hannon/ Richard Hughes), slightly unlucky when third at odds-on at the Curragh last time, and before that an impressive Royal Ascot winner. Dream Ahead (David Simcock/ William Buick), who won the Morny at Deauville, Temple Meads (Ed McMahon/ Richard Mullen) and Approve (William Haggas/ Johnny Murtagh) are the dangers.

After racing, Fallon flies off to Ireland to ride Gitano Hernando for Marco Botti in a Group Three on the all-weather at Dundalk. Should he pass this test, the 4yo will be again aimed at the Breeders Cup; Beethoven (Aidan and Joseph O´Brien) looks the only danger this evening.

Saturday at Newmarket starts off with two immensely valuable sales races for 2yo´s, both with huge fields. The fillies´ event at 14.55 can go to I Love Me (Andrew Balding/ Jimmy Fortune) who won a similar race first time out and now faces 20 opponents, the best of whom could be Together (Aidan O´Brien/ Johnny Murtagh). There are 27 in the colts´ race at 15.25, where Formosina (Jeremy Noseda/ Ryan Moore) is top-rated, while Fury (Haggas/ Fallon), most impressive on his debut, rates a big danger. The biggest field of all, and the big betting race, is the Cambridgeshire, a 9 furlongs handicap at 16.40 with 35 runners. Lightly-raced Nationalism (John Gosden/ Buick) has been all the rage for this and is likely to start at around 7-2; he could well win, but is no value at this price. Gosden´s other runners Taqleed (Richard Hills) and High Twelve (Franny Norton) should not be ignored, while for those looking for an alternative we suggest Steele Tango (Roger Teal/ John Fahy). Classi est race of the day is the Group One Sun Chariot Stakes for fillies over a mile at 16.00. Sahpresa (Rodolphe Collet/ Christophe Soumillon) won this last year and could well complete the double.