Equinties - Guineas squeeze

Gm Equinauts

Well, we might just have seen something special at Sandown yesterday and as such, the 2000 Guineas market has adjusted fairly dramatically.

Let’s dive in.

HEADLINE ROUNDUP

JUSTIFIED PRICE

What does €2.3 million get you? One-half of a fully kitted out Bugatti Chiron, six million Freddos, or a fairly average one bedroom flat in South West London.

That price tag can also get you RULING COURT, a Godolphin rocket that won at Sandown on debut by five-and-a-half lengths yesterday.

Pre-race, he was expected to win, so much so the Blogger even made his presence felt in the betting ring by turning up, whacking 10 big ones down and then leaving straight after the race.

The horse had the price tag, the pedigree (by JUSTIFY out of a half-sister to the Group 1-placed JOHANN STRAUSS), and the breeze-up performance.

But it’s the manner of his success that has caught the racing publics eye.

He fell out of the stalls and William Buick was off the bit to try and hustle him into position. Once he found himself, and the gap, he absolutely flew home.

The race looks good on paper as the second was a 250,000gns foal and the third was a 210,000gns foal.

He’s now 12/1 for the 2000 Guineas already which just shows how mental ante-post betting is!

RACING LEAGUE REVIEW

A lot of people hate it, mainly punters but the Racing League does the job at the bare minimum.

It serves to make a boring Thursday night of racing into a competitive evening of action for a higher-than-average pot which forces all, well, most horses to try!

So, what are the main takeaways from last night’s action?

Well, the Irish horses are certainly worth watching. Although George Boughey missed a dart with GOOD GOOD GOOD…actually scrap that, Boughey didn’t, his jockey did, Boughey is a smart operator and has probably lined up a fair few well-handicapped sorts for these races.

Away from Boughey, Kevin Blake has rallied the troops and will definitely have a few Irish plots to unleash. Remember Ado McGuinness having a winner last year? Something similar to this will happen this year.

The success of The East also has to be mentioned as they bagged three winners on the night. They have a nice team of trainers who, like Boughey, will have the perfect type of horse for these races to earn better prize money than they would elsewhere.

George Scott came close to getting one on the board with MOULIN BOOJ, but Dylan Cunha, William Knight, and Ed Dunlop all contributed.

Overall, it was a good night of racing to watch. Roll on next week.

NEW INITIATIVE

Racing needs to change quickly for a whole number of reasons and the HRI have recognised this with the announcement of a new racing series.

In what has been loosely labelled the Willie, Gordon, Henry, and Gavin exclusion series, 60 NH races will be held for horses trained by trainers who have not achieved more than 50 winners across the last two seasons.

This is a win-win for the sport. Trainers who struggle to compete with the big boys have a nice chance to land a few more winners which will inevitably increase competitiveness and then the racing product we are selling improves.

Fair play to HRI for this.

RISK ON

15.35 MUTAAWID

Well bred and bolted in last time out. Looks better than a class 2 horse, which is perhaps the only negative - why is he racing in this? Should win, surely? 11/8 is a lazy bet but we’re betting pedigree improvement.

16.20 ETOILE D’ALEXANDRE

With Boughey now and bound to have improved. This isn’t strong race so worth the risk at 9/2. Only some books paying 3, most only 2. Either go good ew with 3 or just play the win bet.

18.30 SILVER WRAITH

We know this horse well. She’s better than our Saturday NAP SILVER GHOST who lost in a photo. Probably wont be ready first time out today if she went at 22/1 we’d be sick so a small ew here.

19.50 BOLSENA

We might have read this wring but we think Kevin Ryan’s is a value play here. She’s on of the best bred horses in training today! The fave has been smashed into odds on but has beaten nothing whereas BOLSENA was just beaten by LAVA STREAM! She’ll prefer the sounder surface today and surely looks set for a big run at 7/1. Small play in a tight race, smallest of the day.

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