A pulsating weekend of racing kicks off Friday with 5 flat meetings including high quality action at Newmarket, Ascot and York.
The Haggas team have a massive Saturday coming up but head into Friday with 6 horses 5 of which have chances of continuing the yards good run of form.
First up in the 1.50 Newmarket is Regalian who takes the place of Archivist ,who heads for the John Smiths Cup on Saturday, in this 10f contest.
I watched again his defeat by a nose, when we backed him at Mussleburgh and it still makes uncomfortable viewing.
However, my overriding feeling is that he didn’t go through with his effort having shown an excellent turn of foot to get into a winning position. This is much tougher, with the top 4 in the market all having the look of improving 3yo handicappers. Regalian is the yards only runner at the track on Friday and It wouldn’t be a major surprise if the 3yo was involved in the finish but i suspect there are 1 or 2 better handicapped.
No Bet Recommended
Having paid twice to discover that Realign is not a horse to trust, we have the polar opposite today with First Instinct. She was another to suffer ‘Seconditus Saturday’ a few weeks back – In her case beaten by a 50/1 outsider that improved 20lb. The sharp 5f was the main cause for the defeat and she will be better stepped up in trip to the 6f of todays Group 3 contest on the flat York track.
Her third behind Symbol of Honour is good form and she is tough and ultra consistent , which cannot be said about a lot of the fillies in the line up.
Well drawn in stall 5 she looks a rock solid each way bet at around 11/2 Ceiren Fallon has chosen to come here rather than Ascot to ride her for Haggas and she is just the sort of improving 3yo sprint filly the yard excels with.
1pt ew First Instinct 2.45 York Friday BOG 11/2 or bigger
Moving south to Ascot for the 3.10 – Sea Force goes into a handicap for the first time from a mark of 88 in a contest where all 6 runners can be given a chance.
The make up of the race is largely dependent on Robert Havlin going from the front on Hymnbook but it has the look of a race which could get messy.
The form of Sea Force’s win over Antipodes was given a huge boost when that horse turned over a highly regarded Haggas horse Headmaster, and Sea Force who was eased down in that race could be rated a lot higher than this mark of 88. The worry is the pace of the race ( or lack of it) but Sea Force is a horse to follow and I don’t want to let him go unbacked.
Recommended Bet 1.5pt win Sea Force 3.10 Ascot
In the 3.45 at Ascot top young Japanese rider Mirai Iwata takes the ride on Orionis in a very trappy fillies handicap. She only went up 2lb for a hard fought victory at Windsor over the re-opposing Mrs Twig but this looks tougher with the Gosden filly Crepe Suzette looking a serious threat
She will need to improve again and whist she showed a good attitude at Windsor one or two of these may have too much pace for her.
No Bet Recommended
Also at Ascot Ride the Thunder in the 4.20 and Fast Track Harry in the 4.55 have been backed as though defeat is out of the question.
Mahra’s Love York 4.20 aims to follow up her win on the AW up in grade and 4lb higher in the weights.
They found a weak race for her handicap debut and my initial reaction was that she would struggle to follow up that win and i will stick to my feelings. Obito looks over priced in this race at 7/1
No Bet Recommended
Finally Asolian makes her racecourse debut in the 7.25 Chester and as always a watching brief is advised.
No Bet Recommended
There are a host of opportunities across the meetings – we found a nice 7/2 Appleby – Goldolphin winner on Day 1 of the July meeting and we can repeat the success on Day 2, with the best bet of the day Endless Victory in the 1m 6f handicap at Newmarket.
This race has been dominated by Goldophin in the six years it has been ran.
Hamada won it for Appleby in 2018 and Saaed Bin Suroor twice with Live Your Dream in 2021 (Appleby sent out the runner up Global Stream) and 2023. Trawlerman in 2022 would have gone very close but for suffering serious interference. Ghostwatch was runner up in 2020 and Secret Advisor went wrong in 2019.
Endless Victory was an eye catcher when having his first run back in the UK at Royal Ascot staying on well behind the runaway winner French Master although beaten 7l it looked like he was ridden with the future in mind and could easily have finished 3 or 4L nearer.
That race was tougher than this and given the owners record in this contest it looks to have been the long term target and Endless Victory has an excellent chance to provide Appleby with another winner at a meeting where they have unrivalled success. He looks better class against a field of 2m plodders.
Recommended Bet 3pt win Endless Victory 3.00 Newmarket BoG 7/2
Recommended Bets
Its a busy 30 minutes on Friday !!
1.00pt ew First Instinct 2.45 York BoG 11/2
3.00pt win Endless Victory 3.00 Newmarket BoG 7/2
1.50pt win Sea Force 3.10 Ascot BoG 9/4
Chrysalis Consortium 
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