Equinties - great form

Gm Equinauts

A good day Saturday as we hit a full house for Risk ON and then a good punt on SADDADD posted on our X account @equinties.

We’ll try and keep the momentum going into Cheveley Park Stakes month!

Let’s dive in.

HEADLINE ROUNDUP

GREAT FORM

In a world where speedy races get plenty of attention, it’s the staying handicaps that arguably bring the most excitement by way of both a watching and betting prospect for racing fans. The battles are longer, more memorable and more, favourably predictable.

The London Gold Cup is always a staple of the staying flat division. Despite it being a (Heritage) handicap, it can be a roll of honour with sire’s TIME TEST and BAY BRIDGE having won it previously, but it can also act as a good pointer for the NH season… think PONIROS wining the bloody Triumph at 100/1!

This years winner, SADDADD, got his head back in front on Saturday at Sandown and although we all know about the often great form of the London Gold Cup, and the fact that SADDADD beat QUAI DE BETHUNE (now rated 100 after his Royal Ascot win), there was a big shadow of doubt cast over his head due to the 105-day break between Newbury and Sandown.

Did he have a setback, or was this planned?

Well, neither really, they were just waiting for rain! Even though he won the London Gold Cup on good to firm, connections felt he needed softer conditions and so waited.

He is a PINATUBO half to ALMAQAM after all, who we all know loves a bit of cut in the ground. So, having had a bit of a winter all-weather campaign, it seems like Roger Varian has given him a summer break in search of some softer ground, and on Saturday, he got what he was wishing for.

He did the job nicely on Saturday, and with his two wins, his London Gold Cup form, and his second to the very interesting GETHIN at Newbury in April, SADDAD is wildly unexposed, which is good, because he has an entry in the Group 1 Champion Stakes in October.

Will he head there? Maybe, but it seems like Varian is keen to lower his sights for the time being.

He said: “Saddadd is a horse we love and always have done and we’ve had to very patient with him. I’d like to thank the owner Sheikh Ahmed Al Maktoum who has not put any pressure on us to run him over the summer and I think that race will set him up for a strong autumn.

“He’s won off 100 there today and will get another rise in the weights and deserves to take his chance in Listed company next.

“We’ll probably look at something like the Doonside Cup at Ayr or the Fortune Stakes at Goodwood.”

Ray Dawson, his jockey, added: "I've always really liked him. He's a beautiful animal, lovely to look at, and my five-year-old girl could take him down to the start – he's so relaxed. We always thought he wanted some dig in the ground. He's genuine and an exciting horse.

"I think he was trying to give it all but he was still learning on the way round, finding his balance around the bend on the soft ground. He's picked up well and I think on more suitable ground with a bit of dig, you'll see a better horse. It was an impressive win carrying a lot of weight."
Nice horse, and connections like him.

NO MOORE RYAN

A story that broke on Saturday is worth putting in today’s newsletter, as Ryan Moore will be out for the rest of the season due to a stress fracture in his femur. Apparently, he’s been riding with it ever since the Irish Derby!

What is this guy made of!??? Legend.

We have a couple of points to raise regarding this news, but firstly, we want to wish Ryan a speedy recovery. To ride with a stress fracture in your leg for two months is quite incredible, and it just shows the pure love he has for this game and his job. What a guy.

Right, so, let’s take you back to Saturday morning. A quick log into Racing X revealed a few unofficial tweets flying about regarding a potential injury to Ryan Moore. Yes, Racing X can be a bad place sometimes, but when there is a large volume of people reporting the same thing, when there’s smoke, there is fire.

One account that reported his ‘inside knowledge’ on the situation was the Aidan O’Brien Fansite. We don’t want to give this account toooo much airtime because it really is an odd and a maniacal one, but he was “reporting” (and we use this term extremely lightly) that he had suffered a serious neck injury.

Because this account has over 20k followers, people believed it before the official news came out, even though the news was complete fiction.

On a general scale, the issue with reporting news that can be from a sketchy source that is not yet official is that it creates a whole host of problems for the person who posts it. Just for a few clicks, an account will post content without proper due diligence, and that can be pretty harmful to the person it involves and the people who care about said person. Yes, in this situation, no one is really hurt by it, but in other circumstances, unofficial speculation can be seen as libellous.

Anyway, rant over.

Later on in the day, it was confirmed that Moore would be out for a few months to recover from this injury, which basically rules him out of the rest of the season - including the Cheveley Park Stakes we’re punting (that always helps!). If you look hard enough, The Times reported that he could be back quicker than most people think, but this is still a fracture after all!

This, obviously, raises the question of who rides what going forward? Wayne Lordan, unless he gets his ban overturned in an appeal this week, is out of the Irish Champions Festival and St Leger meeting, and Seamie Heffernan has had no rides for O’Brien this season since he split from Ballydoyle.

But in complete surprise

WEEKEND EYE-CATCHERS

TWO TEMPTING – SATURDAY 15.15 CHESTER

Horses for courses is an age-old saying, but it applies in many scenarios. TWO TEMPTING is a prime example, as he just loves Chester, and he showed this on Saturday. From three runs at the track, he has won two races and finished third in his other, which was this weekend. He placed from stall 10 on Saturday, and he had to work hard from his outside stall to get on the front end early.
That may have cost him late, but he still ran a cracker, and he’s well-weighted off 86 currently. Back to Chester, he should win nto, but even if he goes elsewhere, he does look well-handicapped.

ELLARIA SAND – SATURDAY 13.50 SANDOWN

It was a first-time handicap for ELLARIA SAND at Sandown on Saturday, and she ran with plenty of credit to finish third. She was given a lot to do by Oisin Murphy, as she was positioned towards the rear, but she made late headway and wasn’t stopping at the line. Another handicap, or even back into something like a Listed race, could be for her next, and this softer ground that she likes should be around to stay.

ESNA - SATURDAY 16.10 SANDOWN

A first time out filly by STARMAN, she would have hated the ground that day but ran very well and will be a different animal on a quicker surface.

RISK ON

Contrary to last week when we tried to ping in a few double digit horses (both placed), we’re hitting two shorties today at Windsor (apologies if shorties aren’t your thing):

17.00 LODGE

Won easily with her ears pricked on debut when evidently green. This 3yo filly can carry the pen and beat up this lot. 8/11 is quite short but admittedly looks a great bet. Strong single and small double with RF in the Cheveley Park.

19.30 SILVER CHAMBER

Got off the mark last time out when being stepped up in trip. Her pedigree suggests the more time she’s given, and the further she goes, the better she’ll be. Half stake single and small double with the 17.00. Small treble with the Cheveley Park bet. The ante-post stakes are minimal, max 10% of normal singles but will build exposure nicely into race day.

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