Equinties - Frankie's finale

Gm Equinauts

The Breeders Cup starts tomorrow and there is NOTHING else like it.

If you’ve cancelled plans Friday and Saturday night to be able to sit on the couch with a stack of beers and punt all the big races, then be sure to subscribe to our premium newsletter to access all our BC content.

We had load of winners last year - we love it. Click the link below and you’ll also get access to our bumper preview for Stratford today.

Let’s dive in!

HEADLINE ROUNDUP

EARLY WILLIE RISE

Yeh yeh, we know what this title could also suggest, what’s the story, morning glory, but no, wrong publication.

We got the Coral Gold Cup entries through on Tuesday. Well, we actually got a lot of early entries on Tuesday morning, notably the Paddy Power Gold Cup and the Greatwood Hurdle, but we also got the Hennessy.

This is a race that a lot of British trainers are targeting. Lucinda Russell & Michael Scudamore want to send MYRETOWN to the contest, GA LAW is prepping for the race through the Grade 2 Charlie Hall Chase this weekend, HAITI COULEURS is going to the race via a spin over hurdles, RESPLENDENT GREY is also going, and we imagine the likes of JINGKO BLUE and THE CHANGING MAN could be runners.

But what about the Irish?

The last Irish-trained winner was TOTAL RECALL in 2017 for Willie Mullins, and before then it was BRIGHT HIGHWAY in 1980. The other Irish winner? ARKLE in 1964 and 1965. We think our math (and our reading abilities) are correct.

Why is this? Well, in recent years, the British handicapper has always given Irish-trained runners a few extra pounds for just hopping on the ferry, much like at the Cheltenham Festival.

Furthermore, the Coral Gold Cup does come relatively early in the season, so if an Irish trainer wants to really win it, they do need to start their season early to get a run in and then go over. Then, of course, you’ve got to hope that nothing goes wrong!

Mullins may have won the race in 2017, but he doesn’t tend to have too many runners that could be 100% fit for a race like this. But this year could be different. That’s because BLIZZARD OF OZ, owned by the double green of Simon Munir & Isaac Souede, is being targeted towards the race.

Daryl Jacob, assistant racing manager to the double green, said: "He’s going to come over for the Coral Gold Cup with potentially Intense Raffles as well, if the ground is soft enough. There are lots to look forward to with Blizzard Of Oz this season, and hopefully, he’ll develop into a Graded horse towards the end of the year.

"I was very happy with him the other day at Wexford. Usually, he needs his first run, and he was a little bit careful over his fences last season. But he actually jumped very well the other day, and he beat a good yardstick in Rocky’s Diamond, who I thought would suit the track very well. All in all, we’re extremely happy with him, and we think he’s in a great place."

So, Jacob seems quite excited about him this season. On one hand, he was sent off 4/1 favourite on handicap debut at Punchestown off 141 in May, and he nearly won, so they must have thought he was well-handicapped then. Therefore, he could still be unexposed in handicaps, and he could well improve this season to become a Graded horse.

However, he is officially rated 147 in Ireland, and he beat the ROCKY’S DIAMOND (rated 154 over hurdles) by nearly a length on his seasonal reappearance, with the 137-rated IFIWEREARICHMAN 18 lengths back in third. What will the Irish handicapper do? Put him up to 152ish? Potentially.

If that’s the case, what will the British handicapper do? 155?! That’s a big rating for a horse who has never even contested a Graded race, and he couldn’t beat HARRY DES ONGRAIS (144) and LOMBRON (147) at Gowran Park in February.

A few brave pills will be needed if you are backing him in a Hennessy, but more surprising things have happened before. Oh, and INTENSE RAFFLES could also run. He was a bit in and out last year, and we imagine he’ll need this first run, so if he does go over, be careful.

AMERICAN NEWS

FRANKIE DETTORI, the world’s most famous jockey still riding, is retiring. We think this is the first time he has said this, right? LOL!

But yes, news came through yesterday evening that Lanfranco is hanging up the goggles and breeches after this year’s Breeders’ Cup.

You see, we’ve already been through the emotions of saying goodbye to the one of the greatest jockeys this planets ever seen. He IS horse racing. It was sad to imagine racing without him.

But we were duped, in a way. Because he wasn’t actually retiring. Owing to a massive tax bill which he couldn’t pay, he had to get back in the saddle again and go chase the cash in the States. A bit of a sour taste for British racing who basically gave him a whole season long send off.

Anyway, we, as UK racing fans, got over it and accepted the fact that Lanfranco was over in the States, and to be honest, we hadn’t given him much thought over the last year or so, until last night when this retirement announcement came through.

You’ll forgive us for not taking any notice of it this time, Frankie.

He’s still not really retiring! He will have a few rides in South America after the Breeders Cup, and then he will truly, 100%, indefinitely be done. Well, until the phone rings again, obviously.

It’s a little bit sad how this retirement merry-go-round has unfolded with Dettori, but we’re not surprised, as this happens with sports stars all the time. Paul Scholes, Tyson Fury, Sebastien Vettel, Michael Jordan, Tom Brady, Michael Phelps, and now Frankie Dettori. The list is bigger than you’d imagine but it’s understandable - sport is all athletes know, it’s hard for them to leave it. That high of world-class, competitive sport must be so hard to replace, even when the times get so tough that you stare down the barrel of the camera and say, “I quit.”

Frankie is one of the greatest things that happened to this sport. Not many jockeys have made it into the mainstream quite like him, and when all is said and done, it will be sad knowing that the little Italian isn’t out there riding on the track.

Ciao, Lanfranco.

American racing also received news yesterday that SOVERIGNTY, favourite for the Breeders’ Cup Classic, had been scratched from the race by trainer Bill Mott.

This is terrible news for the Breeders Cup. A clash between him, JOURNALISM, SIERRA LEONE, FOREVER YOUNG, and FIERCENESS would have been epic, but we will now be without the top dog.

Rest up, champ.

MENTAL MONEY

600k and 580k. Those were the two top lots yesterday on day three of the Autumn Horses in Training Sale, and both of these horses are going to jumps yards. What!?

The most expensive lot, FANTASY WORLD, is heading to Lambourn to join Nicky Henderson at Seven Barrows after Jerry McGrath saw off competition from Harold Kirk (yes, him again) to secure the 103-rated ex-Andrew Balding MAKE BELIEVE gelding for an “existing owner in the yard”.

McGrath said: “He’s been bought to go jumping, and with a bit of a dual-purpose career in mind. He’s a horse that’s been on our radar for a while and we got tipped off about him as he was progressing. He ticks a lot of those famous boxes for what we want so hopefully he’s lucky for us. He’ll go to Seven Barrows for an existing owner in the yard. I haven’t bought him on spec, put it that way! That was our last bid. We’d love to have got him for cheaper and maybe we should’ve tried to buy him earlier in the season.”

Could this existing owner be LADY BAMFORD? She’d have the money to stump up for a gelding who is going over obstacles, and she could also be interested in having a dual-purpose horse. Maybe JP McManus could be another man for the horse?

Either way, 600k does look very expensive for a horse that has never seen a hurdle before. His sire, MAKE BELIEVE, has had jumps horses for a few years, but the best of them is DOCTOR PARNASSUS, who once achieved a rating of 136.

The other horse going jumping from yesterday’s session is PUSH THE LIMIT, and he sold for 580,000 guineas to Dan Skelton. Like FANTASY WORLD, he will go juvenile hurdling for his new yard, and he is also rated 103 on the Flat. His sire, LE HAVRE, has had a lot more success as a daddy for the jumps, notably with DUNVEGAN (Grade 1 placed) and the recent Martin Pipe winner WODHOOH. He has had horses on the track since 2013, in fairness.

On the purchase, Ryan Mahon, who also went for FANTASY WORLD, said: “These were the two we really wanted, and having missed the first we weren’t going to miss the second. I loved him as a model and he’s been bought for a new owner of Dan Skelton’s. Hopefully he’ll make up into a nice hurdler. The ones you really want are very difficult to get, you’ve got to go all out to get them.

“It’s him physically; me and Dan have spoken about him a lot over the last couple of days and he really fitted what we wanted. We’d noticed him running but our ears really pricked once we noticed he was catalogued here.”

So, big money was exchanged yesterday at the sales for jumps horses. It’s nice to have that sort of cash to spend on the National Hunt game, isn’t it?

RISK ON

We had an incredible start to October but let it slip the last week. We need to get back into the winners enclosure.

Any bets today will be posted on our X page @equinties

SUBSCRIBE TO PREMIUM TO ACCESS ALL OUR WEEKEND BREEDERS CUP CONTENT!

Become a paying subscriber to get access to all of our pedigree analysis, big race previews inc. bumper previews, standout stats and best bets over the coming NH season!

Already a paying subscriber? Sign In.