Equinties - the flat is back

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Gm Equinauts

We had a great weekend punting wise with both the newsletter and BGP Capital finding double digit winners.

This is how to bet.

The first play of the weekend, sent out to TOTE FANTASY players, was a hard ew hit on one of Balding's fillies, SEA OF ROSES, in France.

Andrew really dotes on this girl but it was quite unnerving to see her to go off so unloved in the market at 16's however the price was just wrong and the bet proved the right one as she ran into 2nd, a length off the 2/5 winner, PENSEE DE JOUR.

PENSEE DE JOUR and SEA OF ROSES are both descendants of the same family, namely through PEINTURE BLEUE who produced PEINTRE CELEBRE the Arc de Triomphe and French Derby winner.

The two fillies filled the forecast in this Gr3 contest and ambitions will be high for a crack at the French Oaks; Prix de Diane. The Andre Fabre filly possibly had race fitness on her side over the Andrew Balding trained SEA THE MOON filly so the next time they meet will be worth watching.

Now, lets dive in.

Headline roundup

Doncaster recap

The first day of the UK turf season kicked off on Saturday at Doncaster and there were plenty of races to talk about.

The first of which came in the first race as DODDIE’S IMPACT won the Brocklesby under mustard man Billy Loughnane. We backed him and it was a fantastic start for not just the newsletter but BGP Capital too who have horses in training with Robyn Brisland.

Having been named after the late, great Doddie Weir who sadly passed away in November 2022, the boss Brisland said that it’ll be all systems go for Royal Ascot with this poignant winner.

Over an hour later, another big race preview landed as VADREAM showed the field a clean set of heels in the Listed Cammidge Trophy to win by four lengths and she could be a really interesting mare going forward for Charlie Fellowes.

She won very comfortably and now the team have admitted they know her better this year than last, she will be kept to these conditions of soft ground over this distance – if she rocks up at Newcastle on the all-weather, however, she would have to be given a very good chance.

And then, in the big race of the day, Benoit De La Sayette made it two Lincoln wins in three years as the young claimer powered up the nearside rail to win onboard MIGRATION, the top-weight and 18/1 shot.

This could genuinely be one of the rides of the season – six lengths back at the two-furlong pole, a heap of traffic in the way, and Benoit finds the rail (the side of the track that was seeing all the winners come from) and scoots home.

Bravo to him and bravo to anyone who picked him out at a massive 18/1.

Finally, and this performance probably did catch you off guard, but it was a very, very nice one considering.

15lbs wrong with the second and third, 25lbs wrong with the fourth, and 19lbs wrong with the fifth, however, ASTRAL BEAU defied the stats and the market drift to win the Listed Doncaster Mile seriously well.

She travelled very well into the race kicked on under Rob Hornby with just two reminders of the whip – she was good for Pam Sly and it’ll be interesting to see where she goes.

Irish Guineas trials

It was double trouble for Aidan O’Brien in the Guineas Trials yesterday as both of his short-priced horses won their relevant races within 40 minutes of each other.

The first of which came in the 2000 Guineas Trial as HANS ANDERSEN picked up his first win since his maiden victory over AL RIFFA.

The FRANKEL colt made a quick move around the bend and stuck on well – the second, BOLD DISCOVERY, is one to watch going forward as he stuck on at the finish well.

As for the other, NEVER ENDING STORY was quite impressive in the 1000 Guineas Trial as she came from a long way back, kicked on, and never looked back under Ryan Moore.

She is 14/1 for the 1000 Guineas and 7/1 for the Irish 1000 Guineas now.

Ballydoyle bomb-out

We all love a Twitter talking horse, don’t we?

Well, the first one of the Flat season has already been beaten as ALEXANDROUPOLIS was beaten at odds of 4/5 comfortably by WHITE BIRCH.

There was some nice chat about this horse after the Ballydoyle media day and Racing Twitter caught onto it – now, a lot are left scratching their heads.

So what happened? ALEXANDROUPOLIS was the warm favourite. He won his maiden like a good horse but couldn’t get in front yesterday. His mother is a sister to KEW GARDENS so potentially he also wants a trip, maybe the St Leger?

And about the winner...WHITE BIRCH was not sold as a yearling, he didn’t make his reserve but they’ll be plenty of admirers now. The likes of GALILEO, HIGH CHAPARRAL and FAME AND GLORY have won this in the past for Ballydoyle. You can see from the pictures how WHITE BIRCH improved from a foal to a yearling.

Foal

Yearling

From the GALILEO line, there was plenty to like and incidentally, his sire ULYSSES had the winner of the Ballysax last year in PIZ BADILE. WHITE BIRCH could make up into a Derby horse but it’ll be interesting how AUGUSTE RODIN gets on in the Guineas. He’s still the one to beat.

Performance of the weekend?

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Risk On

16.30 DILIGENT 

This is a two horse race between top two in market and I'm siding with the 9/4 second fave whos got the better pilot onboard. Real shitty days racing so just small stakes today to wait for better opportunities. Don't chase bets you don't need.