Gm, Equinauts

Day 4 of Glorious Goodwood.

We’re a bit battered and bruised but wow have we seen some good racing.

Make sure to read the last article today. It reveals why we are so pro-Tote.

Speaking of… the Tote are again guaranteeing a massive £200,000 today... minimum!

Click here: PLAY THE TOTE 

Let’s dive in.

HEADLINE ROUNDUP

💫EASY

When FRIENDLY SOUL is a proper Group 1 mare, and there’s no two ways about it, what DIAMOND NECKLACE did to her yesterday is incredible.

Glorious Goodwood keeps on delivering.

DIAMOND NECKLACE landed the Nassau Stakes making that her fourth Group 1 win in a row, and landing the race hat-trick for her yard.

She’s special.

Enjoy this:

🎯100%

One Goodwood runner, one winner for Katie Scott as NAANA’S SHADOW landed the 5f sprint handicap yesterday on Ladies Day:

What a stat for the Scottish trainer, who only has about 20 horses in her yard.

Scott now has fairly ambitious plans for her HAVANA GREY filly. They've made an entry for Longchamp's Group 1 Prix de l'Abbaye!

Scott herself admits the entry was a "mad turn". If she didn't say it, we would have. It's nice to reach for the stars sometimes, but it's not the most sensible racing plan. In fact, it's a terrible idea and a big mistake that will cost the owners a lot of money.

Why?

Well, this has nothing to do with the horse's ability. She's a lovely little grey rocket. But practically speaking, the Abbaye is almost always run on bottomless ground. How the hell is that ever going to suit a little grey filly who skips off the top of it?

Some might say, "But what a day out it'll be." Fine, go for the day out.

JUST DON'T TAKE THE HORSE.

❌DON’T BET FRED

We don’t like bookmakers and we certainly don’t like Fred Done.

Why?

Well, we’ve gone through a few accounts of his. Get up to about 8k profit (we did that in two months) and bang restrictions start.

But our biggest reason to hate the outfit is for one of racing's biggest mistakes. It allowed the government to sell the Tote to Fred Done (Bet Fred).

In our opinion, Fred Done's ownership all but ruined what should have been one of the sport's greatest assets. He wanted the betting shops and the monopoly.

The Tote should have been nurtured into a world-class pool betting product capable of competing with Hong Kong and France. Instead, it stagnated while fixed-odds betting remained the priority.

It's no surprise WorldPool is now proving what the Tote could have become all along had racing's interests come first.

Back to Fred. He’s about to put a lot of people out of work.

Betfred will close more than 130 betting shops, putting around 600 jobs at risk and costing racing an estimated £4 million a year in levy and media rights payments. The bookmaker blames rising taxes, higher employment costs and increasing regulation, while the closures follow similar cutbacks from William Hill, Paddy Power and Entain.

This is simply another reminder of why racing needs to stop relying so heavily on traditional bookmakers. Shop numbers are shrinking, margins are tightening and the industry's old funding model is beginning to crack.

If anything, it only strengthens the case for alternatives like WorldPool, where a successful betting product is directly aligned with racing's long-term future.

PLAY THE FUCKING TOTE.

 PLAY THE TOTE 

BIG RACE PREVIEWS

14.25 1M GROUP 3 THOROUGHBRED STAKES

TALK OF NEW YORK is heavy odds on here and should just win. He’s by the late WOOTTON BASSETT and out of a very good SHAMARDAL mare. Lovely horse. Weapon. And we’ve known about his since the start of the year:

If Appleby's is the talk of NYC, then Shaggas' SABER STRIKE was the talk of Royal Ascot after punters guessed (incorrectly) that this was the lad William was referring to when purring over a piece of work in a pre-Royal Ascot video. (Typical Shaggas, not wanting to give anything away. That's the only thing we dislike about one of the greatest trainers in the world). He was actually referring to DIVISION. Shaggas said this lad didn’t try a bean at RA so want’s to get him racing more now to teach him a lesson.

The other really don’t stand a chance but let’s try and work out where their future lies. CATULLUS isn’t a Group 3 horse and we wouldn’t be surprised to see him run down the field to lower his mark.

Burke is trying his luck with SHAYEM. He is 2 from 5 at Listed level so Group 3’s are worth exploring, but probs not this one!

Gosden won this race in '23 and '24, but the racing gods would have to put wings on YAZIN for him to win this. He definitely needs slower ground.

ANDAB probably needs to be top weight in a handicap to see his head in front again.

Balding’s FIVE WAYS has no business in this race.

Verdict: Another fave is going to go in here. TALK OF NEW YORK is leverage for another bet. SABER STRIKE follows him home and should prove a free ew.

15.35 5F GROUP 2 KING GEORGE STAKES

Belter of a race this. 15 of the fastest horses in the country full send down the straight of the Downs. A glorious sight but blink and you’ll miss it.

NIGHT RAIDER arguably sets the standard having placed in the King Charles III at RA and before that was two from two in Group company this year.

JAKAJARO is improving at quite the rate. He’s gone from winning handicaps to being a length off the win in Group 1 company. He had the benefit of a high draw at RA but gets a low draw today which might see him with too much to do.

We love RUMSTAR. He’s won every time we’ve backed him. We won’t be today. A Group 2 with a low draw won’t be ideal. He needs his optimum conditions to win.

JM JUNGLE has optimum conditions today complimented with a high draw.

SPICY MARG caused a headache last time but we forgive her because we gambled her on debut after good word for her:

She completely flopped last time but given she’s a filly, that’s just nature. They are so temperamental. Is she’s back today, from stall 15 she could be lethal.

Of the rest, TIME FOR SANDALS has been disappointing, AFOORA’s form has dropped right off and APSECT ISLAND will have to turn left out the stalls which isn’t ideal.

Verdict: NIGHT RAIDER was on the wrong side of the track at RA and benefits from being drawn high today. If SPICY MARG returns to her best then she can be the main danger. JM JUNLGE to follow them home. Phwoar that’s a speccy tri-cast… If that comes in that will pay big thanks to the liquidity of the WorldPool. Play through the Tote here: PLAY THE TOTE 

Oh, side note. There are some bookmakers trying to paint WorldPool as a threat to racing. Total bullshit. They're a threat to the bookies only, and they'll be a godsend to the sport itself.

It's genuinely incredible how many people put bookmakers on pedestals. All they want is your money and racing's money.

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