Equinties - the best justified

Gm Equinauts

The team behind this newsletter are a man down this week but we’ll still try give the people want they want and knock it out the park.

Let’s dive in.

HEADLINE ROUNDUP

AIN’T GOING TO AINTREE

Earlier in the season, the idea that NASSALAM, this season’s impressive Welsh Grand National winner, would run in the Gold Cup before a tilt at the Grand National had been floated up by connections. 

He wouldn’t be the only horse doing it this year as CORACH RAMBLER is also set to do the same. However, this rough plan has been ruled out by Gary Moore as he intends to send the 161-rated chaser to Aintree’s feature contest in what will be Moore’s first ever National runner. 

Moore said: "The Gold Cup is very, very doubtful. He'll go straight to the Grand National, it's as simple as that and he won't run again until then. “He's improved a lot this season and let's hope I'm doing the right thing in giving him a long break. He's handicapped out of races so we couldn't really run again, I think this plan makes sense.

"I felt at Chepstow it was a case of him overachieving and the others underachieving. Iwilldoit has been beaten twice since and I don't think much has come out of the race so I hope the handicapper has noticed.” 

Last year, NOBLE YEATS was the second-top-rated horse in the Grand National off 166 and he finished a staying-on fourth while ANY SECOND NOW, the highest-rated horse, pulled up. The Grand National weights are revealed today at the annual black-tie dinner, so we will know more later on.

More: https://www.racingpost.com/news/festivals/grand-national-festival/this-plan-makes-sense-nassalam-to-skip-gold-cup-as-gary-moore-targets-aintree-glory-with-first-grand-national-runner-aEy0h2p5jIo7/

A CLASSIC JUSTIFY

Yesterday, Racing Post Bloodstock released a pre-Flat season article from an interview that Martin Stevens conducted with the master of Ballydoyle, Aidan O’Brien. We don’t have much to add from our perspective, but all we can do is recommend that everyone interested in racing reads it. The piece takes a fascinating look into Coolmore breeding, O’Brien’s rise through the ranks, and what we should expect this Flat season. 

JUSTIFY was heavily mentioned towards the end of the article, so it’s only fit that yesterday, French trainer Christopher Head suggested RAMATUELLE could head over the channel to run in this year’s Newmarket 1000 Guineas. 

By JUSTIFY, the three-year-old won last season’s Group 2 Prix Robert Papin and was runner-up in the Group 1 Prix Morny. This year, she is set to start her season in the Prix Imprudence and connections will “see where we go” from there.

Head said: “We're looking all over Europe to make the best program for her as a three-year-old. [Newmarket] is of course a possibility, but at the end of the day her owner will decide where she will run.” A progressive, exciting French raider could be exactly what this year’s renewal needs. After all, that form when second to VANDEEK in the Prix Morny is gold dust and she has yet to race at a mile despite her middle-distance pedigree.

More: https://www.thoroughbreddailynews.com/guineas-options-open-for-ramatuelle/

NICHOLLS STABLE TOUR

This and next week, the British press will be on their pre-Festival stable visits to the big UK stables to collect Cheltenham information, but the Racing Post have gone ahead and done a stable tour with Paul Nicholls already to see what his team could look like in March.

Away from the obvious horses like BRAVEMANSGAME, who he thinks is a “big price” at 20/1, here are a few of the under-the-radar nuggets. 

Every year, Nicholls seems to have a horse for the Hunters’ Chase. Last year it was SECRET INVESTOR, who fell at the first, and this year it could be LALOR at 40/1. Once rated 153, he won a handicap chase off 145 in April 2022 at Newbury and had 670 days off the track. He returned earlier this month with a fair second on Hunter Chase debut and Nicholls says he is “definitely a player if we can get him qualified”. He is set to run at Taunton today. 

SONIGINO, a horse Nicholls was frustrated at not running in last weekend’s Kingwell Hurdle on heavy ground, is going to be targeted to the Martin Pipe off 143 with Freddie Gingell in the saddle. He’s hit the target in a few nice handicaps this year and the boss of Ditcheat is “quite keen” to run him in the Festival finale.

By far the most unexposed handicapper that Nicholls has for Cheltenham is PANJARI. He plans to “run him in the Dovecote at Kempton on Saturday and then go to the County”, and Nicholls believes the team “haven’t got to the bottom of him yet”. Off 127 currently, the plan would need to work this weekend in order to get a run in the County Hurdle.

RISK ON

We should have been celebrating a winner yesterday with Boughey’s but he was given a terrible ride.

We’re a man short this week so won’t be able to produce the detailed content we usually do, namely Young Blood, but the Market Rasen bumper selection would be Fergal’s and is the bet today.

17.05 HEART OVER HEAD

A half to a yards slop lover and by a sire able to produce good bumper winners. Fergal hasn’t been in the same form as he was last year whereas the next market rival, Pauling, has but his horse isn’t very well bred. We can’t see anything to match this pedigree in this race and looks an easy bet (on paper). 13/8.