Equinties - Lanfranco again

Sponsored by UK Meds.

Gm Equinauts

The bank holiday is over and the racing at Chester is only a one day away. What a time to be alive.

Since the TOTE Fantasy inception, BGP Capital have always had the biggest league. They sent a dm yesterday to say if any of our readers have never played the Fantasy but want to try it, they can do FOR FREE using this link:

Let's dive in.

News headlines

Chaldean the Champion

It just had to happen, didn’t it?

On his final 2000 Guineas ride with the Lanfranco farewell tour in full force, Frankie Dettori rode CHALDEAN to victory in a dramatic renewal of the first Classic of the season.

Although it looked to be a relatively facile win for the FRANKEL colt, this Jockey Cam footage would suggest different as Dettori had to get quite busy on his mount to try and pass the 125/1 shot HI ROYAL.

So why was this year’s 2000 Guineas so dramatic? Well, forgetting about the fact that the places behind CHALDEAN were inhabited by horses at 125/1, 11/1, 150/1, and 33/1, it was the downfall of the Ballydoyle contenders that sparked plenty of questions post-race.

Early on into the one-mile contest, LITTLE BIG BEAR, who had already seen his chances diminish due to the soft ground, was struck into by ROYAL SCOTSMAN while being extremely keen and was lame post-race while his stablemate AUGUSTE RODIN was caught in the hassle of this and never fired.

It seems like LBB will go back down in trip to the Commonwealth Cup, via a trip to the Group 2 Greenlands Stakes at the Curragh (won last year by BRAD THE BRIEF for Hugo Palmer), while the Guineas favourite will still head to the Derby.

Overall, it seems that CHALDEAN is a very good, and most importantly, consistent horse who is one to look forward to this year.

Cracker in the 1000

We were treated to a superb renewal of the 1000 Guineas on Sunday as MAWJ just got the better of the well-fancied TAHIYRA to hand Saeed Bin Suroor his first Classic since the 2009 St Leger.

This tweet is very true. Rarely would you see a battle like that on the biggest stage between two good horses.

Coming into the race, all the talk was about Dermot Weld’s filly due to the manner of her Moyglare victory, and although that may be true, let’s not forget that MAWJ was an easy winner over in Meydan before her tilt at Sunday’s Classic.

Visually, the race was easy on the eye, and it seems like Timeform is of the same opinion – the pair pulled seven lengths clear of the field with MEDITATE in sixth, LEZOO in eighth, and REMARQUEE in 15th.

No decision has been made about the winner’s next start as both the Irish and French renewals of the race are on the table, though she is now the 6/4 favourite for the Coronation Stakes at Royal Ascot.

Also, take a look at TAHIYRA on the run-in – it looks for all the world like she will pass eventually but she never does and she hangs her head in at least three times. It was her third-ever start and in an attritional 1000 Guineas, sp maybe she just got intimidated by the winner.

Before we finish the review of the 1000 Guineas, eyes should be on DANCE IN THE GRASS going forward – she dropped out the back of the TV but stayed on to finish fifth on non-ideal ground (best form is on good) so she could be interesting going forward.

Performances of the weekend

There was plenty of racing to dissect over the last few days and without wanting to write a full essay, here are three of the most taking performances from the bank holiday weekend.

SPREWELL – Leopardstown Derby Trial

Kate Harrington highlighted this three-year-old CHURCHILL colt as a horse who is “as good as we’ve ever had at that distance” after his three-length victory in the Group 3 Derby Trial and the contest has been won by the likes of STONE AGE, BOLSHOI BALLET, and BROOME in the past, so there is some back class to the history of the race.

He is now a 16/1 shot for the Derby and looks to be a good one – small worry would be about the Derby and the substance of his form having raced on soft ground or slower throughout his career. Also, being a CHURCHILL out of a REDBACK mare wouldn’t scream that he would get the Derby trip and although VADENI (also sired by CHURCHILL) did well last year to finish second in an Arc, he is out of a MONSUN (12f) mare rather than a REDBACK (9f) mare.

Good horse but worries about the Derby which is apparently ‘the dream’ of his owner.

CICERO’S GIFT – Goodwood Conditions Stakes

Talk about brilliant performances over a mile, this is right up there as CICERO’S GIFT walloped the field in the one-mile Conditions Stakes at Goodwood on Friday.

The MUHAARAR colt out of a DIKTAT mare is now unbeaten in three and has entries for the Dante over 1m2f and St James’s Palace Stakes over 1m, however, post-race chat was for the French Derby by trainer Charlie Hills.

This was a serious performance and earned an RPR of 108.

VIA SISTINA – Newmarket Dahlia Stakes

It was tough between this and RUNNING LION, but VIA SISTINA just gets the nod for her RPR performance of 117 in the Dahlia Stakes because my word, it was amazing.

It was a classic Jamie Spencer off-the-pace ride and when the time came for JS to push the button, all he had to do was hover over it and the FASTNET ROCK filly shot away from some 107-rated competitors.

Interestingly, she only went through the sales for 5,000GNS - apparently, she had bad hind legs but it seems she has overcome this potential negative on the track.

She has an entry in the Group 1 Pretty Polly at the Curragh in July and Middleton Fillies Stakes at York but nothing at Royal Ascot.

Poor form Paddy

And finishing of today’s newsletter, we bring you a story that came out yesterday evening as Tony Mullins revealed his stable star, PRINCESS ZOE, would be trained by someone else next season following an apparent falling out with owner Paddy Kehoe.

As expected, this brought a wave of anger to Racing Twitter.

This isn’t a nice read. Look, owners pay the bills so ultimately, they get the final decision and as is shown here, this anger has been building for a while.

However, in this case, the eight-year-old has raced 37 times, earned £428,676 in prize money, won a Group 1, and has been racing for six years. As shown with HONEYSUCKLE recently, these mares at the top of their game struggle to keep competing at this level for a sustained period.

PRINCESS ZOE has been in the winner’s enclosure twice in her last 16 runs which has included a switch from the Flat to jumps to try to get more improvement, something that arguably hasn’t happened.

This doesn’t look good from Paddy, especially as it seems Tony was under the impression she was off to be covered and to enjoy retirement.

Risk on

LION TAMER - 16:35 Lingfield

Oisin would have had the pick of this and the third favourite but he has chosen this. We think that these ROARING LIONs will get much better from a two-year-old to three. Good second on debut at the end of last season.

FOR RITA - 16:55 Fakenham

Looks like an easy one today. Don't mind the drift, he was put in too short today. Zac Baker is a good booking and we think he is better than the favourite. Full bet.

SNAFIYA - 18:45 Newcastle

By Blue Point and bought for 80,000GNS, her sister won fto for Ger Lyons in Ireland. Her dam is by ARCANO who is the broodmare sire of Supremacy, Dragon Symbol, and Sakheer. He was second on his first start and ran on strongly against a race-fit rival.

Small singles and treble.

Staking and banking

There was a lot of positive feedback recently from people benefitting from our staking advice. Well, and general bank roll tips too. So we'll keep it here as a reminder.

You need to manage risk by limiting bet size to a fixed % of your bank. The reality is, if you have an edge that'll prove profitable over say, 100 trades but there will be times when you have a string of losses - could be 10 losing bets in a row, it happens. To avoid blowing the account, managing risk to a fixed, low percentage is the only way to stay in the game.

Help keep a healthy bank by betting less and using the TOTE Fantasy game to feed the chimp.