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When More Thunder somehow scrambled home to land the Bunbury Cup the signs where that it would be our day. However if I had been asked to give odds on Archivist trying to make all the running in the John Smiths Cup i would have given you 20/1. Thats what he tried to do and having got away with setting steady fractions he was in pole position to pull away and land Haggas and ourselves the big handicap double.
I am sure Adam Farragher was riding to instructions and to my eyes the reason Archivist didn’t pull clear was the fast ground which he was feeling when he was asked to go and win the race. I expect he will be given a break and come back when we get some rain. He is certainly not one to write off.
The running of Notable Speech was equally strange. He set off after North Raider as though it was the Epsom dash and had nothing left when he needed to accelerate inside the final 2F. Tom Marquand who finished 2nd on Big Mojo will add this Group 1 to a list of races he should have won this season which remains extremely frustrating for him whether riding for Haggas or outside rides.
The race that Fifth Column touched off Bedouin Prince and Raafedd is top 3yo handicap form and all 3 will win again in the weeks ahead.
The Newmarket July meeting saw Ryan Moore beaten in three photo finishes riding for Ballydoyle and although as normal Appleby and Goldophin dominated 3 of their most fancied runners were beat.
Oisin Murphy before pulling the last race out of the fire rode 16 horses without finishing in the first two.
In summary it was a few days that favoured those punters that bet based on finding outsiders and are happy to work their way through long losing runs. July has not been as anticipated and its worth taking a few days to reset and prepare for the rest of the month and making sure we continue to build the bank.
The Somerville Lodge team send three to post at Southwell on Sunday and all have a chance. However the yards record at the track has never been great and although this is a new fixture with plenty of prize money there are solid reasons not to get stuck in on Sunday.
In the 5.15 Alibey is as short as 11/4 against the odds on Miss Justice. You know my views when Gosden and Haggas clash in these minor track novice stakes events, so i won’t get involved but keep an eye on the late market moves.
30 minutes later at 5.45 Golden Handshake is also 11/4 against the 5/4 favourite, The Pouncing lion this also looks tough as The Pouncing Lion looked a horse to follow when winning last time out and Golden Handshake whilst showing plenty of promise may find the Bell 3yo is in a different class.
Finally in the 6.15 Showering did attract overnight support but is on the drift this morning. The drop back in trip to 5F is far from certain to be beneficial and with the early pace drawn low he may find himself with too much to do on the wing in stall 11
No Bet Recommended Sunday
Chrysalis Consortium 
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