Tuesday, May 22, 2012

4 meetings today

The usual Tuesday low level cards today, with Nottingham and Brighton in the afternoon, and Kempton (all-weather) and Towcester (N.H.) this evening. Frankie Dettori is at Nottingham and we hope that he can take the 2yo maiden at 15.15 CET on Godolphin´s Gold Hunter. The one to beat is clearly Janoub Nibras (Richard Hannon/ Richard Hughes), third at Ascot on his debut, while Gold Hunter was also third at Newmarket.

These were both quite decent maidens over 5 furlongs and today´s extra furlong should suit them both. Frankie also had two rides for trainer George Baker, top-weight Relentless Harry in the 3yo handicap at 14.45 and Bugsys Boy in the 2 mile handicap at 16.15, and we think they also both have winning chances, even though the latter - also a winning hurdler - has not run for 15 months. The 10 furlong handicap for 3yo fillies at 16.45 looks quite tricky; the top weights Eluding (Mahmood al Zarooni/ Mikael Barzalona) and Dulkashe (Luca Cumani/ Kieren Fallon) are potentially useful, but are both making their 2012 debut so we give slight preference to Wolverhampton winner Al Jabreiah (William Haggas/ Liam Jones).

Seb Sanders is usually the jockey to follow at Brighton and he has two likely winners today, Millika for Rae Guest in the 6 furlongs maiden at 15.30 and Methayel for Clive Brittain in the mile handicap for fillies half an hour later. Neither however is likely to start at a very generous price.

Another hot favourite who should oblige i Handsome Ramsom (John Gosden/ William Buick) in the 10 furlongs maiden at 19.00 at Kempton. Half an hour later the very consistent Black Cadillac (Andrew Balding/ David Probert) can atone for his latest short head defeat by winning the sprint handicap., while Waldsee (P.Rich/ James Doyle), who has so far lived up to his excellent German pedigree, should finish in the frame in the 2 miles handicap at 19.30.

Tony McCoy rode 4 winners yesterday and can keep up the good work this evening at Towcester. We expect him to win the novice chase at 21,15 on Oliver Sherwood´s Kasbadali, a decent handicap hurdler making his debut over fences, and he also has possibilities on Little Fritz at 19.45, Like Ice at 20.15 and Lost Glory half an hour later.