Equinties - no amo

Author

BGP Capital
June 17, 2024

Equinties

Gm Equinauts

Royal Ascot week… flat racings Cheltenham festival. We can’t wait.

Let’s dive in.

HEADLINE ROUNDUP

AMO PLANS

It feels like there is Amo Racing news every single week, but this feels like a notable point in their history as Kia Joorabchian has moved a large amount of horses from Dominic Ffrench Davis.

Word is Ffrench Davis didn’t even touch the horses anyway, so what’s the reason for this change? Well, Raphael Freire, the former assistant to Ffrench Davis, has been granted a training license and will have runners in his own name.

The 28-year-old Brazilian has had one runner in the UK before when he saddled HOTLINE BLING in the 2022 renewal of the Thoroughbred Stakes at Glorious Goodwood.

He’s been heavily invested into the Amo Racing process since the start and has had to wait a while to get a training license of his own, but having him as a trainer for Joorabchian has always been the plan.

On the move, Joorabchian said: “I have spoken with Dom and Raphael and told them I’m not getting involved with the decisions. The two of them started together and have worked well together, so they can decide how they are going to do it. 

"For example, I saw that Angelo Buonarroti is in Raphael’s name, but I’m not surprised by that as he helped to buy him. I didn’t know who Maxi King was declared for, but I see that it’s Dom and that’s fine – they know the horses better than I do. 

“They’ve worked together for however long now; why should I come in and say who goes where? They have such a good relationship and I do think that Raphael has been fantastic for Dom since he started there and vice versa because Dom has so much experience; so they’ll sort it out and I don’t even ask them about it. We’re not changing anything for the horses, it’s just a change of name on paper.”

HERE COMES THE WATER

Last week, we thought that the ground at Ascot would be soft as plenty of rain was expected. However, the track only received 2mm of rain on Saturday and Sunday was fairly dry.

So, amazingly, clerk of the course Chris Stickels is “very likely” going to artificially water today.

He said on Sunday: “We’ve had no change here, so the going is good to firm, good in places and it’s been a drying day with breezy conditions. It’s very likely we’ll put a spot of water on tomorrow to maintain conditions as they are. 

“We’ll make a decision first thing in the morning, but I would say that we’ll look to put 5mm on the straight course and 3mm on the round course.”

This isn’t a decision that many people were too pleased about.

Neil is fairly bang on here. We should be running the ground on as close to natural ground as possible. It’s harsh to change conditions which will have an effect on how certain runners will perform.

If the ground ends up slightly too firm on Tuesday, water overnight, or wait for any rain that’s set to come in.

Let’s see how it goes over the next day or so before formulating a strong opinion, and Stickels may have gotten it right, but this seems like a poor decision.

WEEKEND EYE-CATCHERS

FLORA OF BERMUDA - SATURDAY 14.40 SANDOWN

The newsletter verdict got the Listed Scurry Stakes bang on (just) as ADAAY IN DEVON continued her rise through the ranks.

However, one could argue FLORA OF BERMUDA was the best horse in race and should have won the contest.

To try and settle her hot-headedness, jockey Oisin Murphy dropped her out the back which did work, but he was a bit slow to deliver her in the finish.

If Murphy had pressed the button half-a-furlong earlier, FLORA OF BERMUDA should have won and she looks like a horse to follow.

QUATRE BRAS - SATURDAY 15.15 SANDOWN

In what looked like a nice handicap, QUATRE BRAS shaped like a nice horse under David Egan.

The three-year-old by SEA THE STARS was boxed in for a while and had to wait a while to get a fair run at the line.

Once Egan used the stick, his mount responded nicely, strode through the gap and finished out the race smartly.

The race looks like a nice piece of form and he’ll be interesting going forward.

MISS HATHAWAY - SUNDAY 15.45 THIRSK

The SkyBet Sunday Series was on our screens yesterday, though arguably the most interesting race of the day was the opening two-year-old contest.

The winner was ALICE FAIRFAX who has a DUBAWI influence on her dam’s side (her dam, SUBAANA, is a granddaughter of DUBAWI’s dam ZOMARADAH) but MISS HATHAWAY was unlucky not to win.

She ducked out at the start and raced up the rail on her own, but as the camera angle changed three furlongs from home, she looked to be hard on the bridle.

It would have been easy for her to drop away once she came off the bridle, but the two-year-old by BUNGLE INTHEJUNGLE stuck on and showed a good attitude.

She’ll be interesting to watch for Tim Easterby.

RISK ON

A brilliant Saturday landing the Boughey plots - three singles and a 17/1 treble.

Today we like only one, a quiet day before the sun of Royal Ascot behi:

17.00 QUESTIONABLE 

Nice pedigree bet here for the soft ground… 5/4 a good bet.

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