Equinties - York awards

Gm Equinauts

Like after every big meeting, we’ve reviewed all the action and dedicated prizes to the best moments.

THE EQUINTIES AWARDS

TRAINING PERFORMANCE: ARCHIE WATSON with BRADSELL

We stated our love for BRADSELL in Saturday’s newsletter, but plenty of plaudits have to go to Archie Watson and his team at home.

Considering he injured himself at home and retirement was a strong possibility, to get him back on track and win a Listed race and then bolt up in a good Group 1 in the same month is monumental feat.

Keep him sound and you will have a few more Group 1s to get under your belt, Archie.

BEST RIDE: RYAN MOORE with CONTENT

Ryan Moore is the best, we all know this. He has shown us plenty of times before, but his ride on CONTENT to win the Yorkshire Oaks was very good indeed.

Put yourself in his boots - you have a very keen horse who is still not properly proven over 1m4f in a decent renewal of the Yorkshire Oaks.

So, what do you do? You keep her up the rail on her own in search of better ground and ride the other jockeys to sleep. After all, Kieran Shoemark was last off the bridle on EMILY UPJOHN but found nothing.

He had a willing partner, that’s for sure, but Moore was class here:

FAVOURITE PERFORMANCE: THE LION IN WINTER in the Acomb

It’s obvious considering she broke the track record, but THE LION IN WINTER was very good in the Acomb.

What is a big tell towards a good horse is when two or three pull well clear of the field, so when THE LION IN WINTER, WIMBLEDON HAWKEYE and RULING COURT pulled five lengths clear of THE WACO KID, you know you’re looking at good horses.

He looked good and can be put into the Classic picture for next year.

BIGGEST DISAPPOINTMENT: MICK APPLEBY

This may seem harsh, but it’s almost a compliment that we are including the Mick of racing worlds Appleby’s in this list for not having a winner at York.

BIG EVS and BIG MOJO underperformed while MR LIGHTSIDE and BILLYJOH did something similar.

The yard haven’t had a winner in 44 runners (24 days) so they certainly chucked plenty at Goodwood and had to face the consequences after.

Watch the yard going forward as their runners aren’t in top form currently.

Now, let’s dive in.

HEADLINE ROUNDUP

FIRE IN THE BELLY

SEE THE FIRE is a very interesting horse, of that there is no doubt.

She placed behind SHUWARI and YLANG YLANG in the Fillies’ Mile and was really chucked in at the deep end for the Coral-Eclipse three starts ago.

That form with CITY OF TROY and AL RIFFA - as well as the form with OPERA SINGER from Goodwood - was put to good use as she won the Strensall Stakes on Saturday.

It was a rather smart performance as well. She waited a while to get to the front, but Oisin Murphy perfectly guided her into contention (he’s riding out his skin atm!). The second, PHANTOM FLIGHT, has form with AL AASY and CHECKANDCHALLENGE and is highly regarded by trainer Scott.

So, where next? Oisin Murphy said "I'd say we'll definitely be going for a Group 1 next”, so the Sun Chariot (a race she is 6/1 for) could be the play, though the Prix de l’Opera is also a good option.

THE FIELD ESTRANGED!

We all thought that Goodwood on a Sunday was going to be a standard card, but there was nothing standard about the performance of ESTRANGE in the maiden fillies’ stakes.

Although it’s easy to look upon debuts like this with rose-tinted glasses, it’s worth looking into the form of her opponents.

The second, LASTING LOVE, was close behind the 90-rated SINOLOGY on her second run and the third, EAVESTONE, was a good third to FRIENDLY SOUL on debut.

That form is decent, and with the manner of her success, one would have to think favourably of the run.

Furthermore, ESTRANGE is a half-sister to the 650,000gns purchase LMAY and her dam is an unraced half-sister to the St Leger winner LOGICIAN. That’s a pedigree which is sexy.

David O’Meara is no mug when it comes to training horses, but it’ll be interesting to see how he deals with a horse like this who has just made her debut as a three-year-old.

We’re quite annoyed we didn’t tip this girl up because she had the stand out pedigree in the race for it’s conditions - a slop fest. O’Meara will need to consider this when race planning for her in future.

YORK EYE-CATCHERS

We’ve gone through York to find a few eye-catchers to watch going forward. Here are three to note.

AL NAYYIR - FRIDAY 14.25

On his first start for Tom Clover, AL NAYYIR nearly put in the shock of the day to deny Vauban in the Lonsdale Cup.

To be fair to the horse, he had every right to run that way if he was on form on his first start for over two months due to his form with TOWER OF LONDON from the Dubai Gold Cup.

Clover seems excited by the prospect of him going forward, and VAUBAN has a high level of form in the book (even if he isn’t a strong stayer), so it’s fair to say he had every right to be.

BILLBOARD STAR - FRIDAY 15.00

Stick with us here as this requires a tinfoil hat or two, but Eve Johnson Houghton could have a nice juvenile with BILLBOARD STAR going forward that not many will give a chance to.

On his last two starts, he’s had an awful route through, the most recent one occurred in the Gimcrack which can be seen in the above video.

Who knows what would have happened at York, but he was backed in the morning and he was travelling well.

Furthermore, two starts ago in the Richmond, he was stopped at a crucial stage and finished fourth when ahead of TROPICAL STORM who won a Listed race on Saturday.

Watch him going forward, possibly in lesser company.

MASTER BUILDER & WILD WAVES - SATURDAY 14.25

The Melrose Handicap is always a good handicap to follow. Three-year-old improvers over 1m6f makes for good watching, and the winner is usually shipped off to Australia almost immediately.

This year, two losers caught the eye, starting with MASTER BUILDER.

David Menuisier put him up as a horse who could run well earlier in the week but he was hoping for a spot of rain. The rain didn’t come as much as he would have liked, but the performance was still smart and it was his fourth career run.

As for WILD WAVES, he was well-backed before the off and had a rough route through the race from the rear of the field.

Not many horses were getting into races from the rear at York last week, so he put in a big performance despite the traffic issues. He also holds a St Leger entry as well, which is interesting. Balding is bang in form now.

RISK ON

This newsletter had a positive week at York with several big priced winners landing, but our new hire Norm ruined his weekend with a bad bet yesterday. The term ‘bumping into one’ springs to mind.

He’ll dust down readily though as his scorecard proves he’s still one of the best horse punters in the country:

As for bets today, we will keep looking at the quick ground at Stratford to see if anything springs out, but it’s a bad days racing and we’re likely to cancel it.

WANT ACCESS TO OUR PREVIEWS FOR THE NEXT BIG MEETING? SUBSCRIBE BELOW FOR EITHER £1 A WEEK OR GET THE DISCOUNT OF £35 FOR THE YEAR!

Become a paying subscriber of Premium to get access to this post and other subscriber-only content.

Already a paying subscriber? Sign In.

A subscription gets you:

• • The weekender edition (Mon-Fri still free)
• • The weekends best bets
• • That warm fuzzy feeling inside knowing the intern gets fed
• • Only £1 a week!