In what is a massive day of racing action, Ladbroke’s Hayley O’Conner decided to give us the inside track. Here are her tips…
The Racing Post Trophy at Doncaster this weekend will offer a final glimpse of some of next year’s potential Classic winners. Sadly for racegoers, and possibly John Gosden’s leading fancy Foundation, the Indian summer at the track for September’s Leger meeting, has long gone and the rain is en route.
Foundation’s won his three starts this season, including a three-quarters of a length defeat of Deauville, who’ll re-oppose at Doncaster, in the Royal Lodge Stakes at Newmarket last time. I ‘m tempted to venture past the shorter priced contenders though and take my chances backing something at a bigger odds.
At this time of year, the ganglier juveniles can start to fill out and progress beyond their more precocious piers. A pair falling into this category are Richard Hannon’s Tony Curtis and Mengali Khan, who represents one of the most prolific trainers of the season, Hugo Palmer. The latter won well despite showing a lot of greenness on his last run so will get the nod this time.
At home, Saturday’s showcase looks like the Killavullan Stakes at 3;30 in Leopardstown. Agent Of Chaos nearly lived into his name by causing a 50/1 surprise on his début, only to be beaten by a fraction by the Ballydoyle big dog 2/1 favourite. I think he could fall shy of the best in this race again though as I really like the look of Michael O’Callaghan’s Blue De Vega.
For a small yard, it was obvious the expectations were big when he was sent off favourite on his debut. Difficulties at the start meant he was in the stalls for almost 7 minutes and when they did open, he was understandably slow away. He next run though was explosive and he put in a massively good performance and I predict he’ll be the best of this bunch.
Finally, as the National Hunt racing returns at Cheltenham, I think JP McManus’ Hagram will having a winning start to the season in the 2.45 Masterson Holdings Hurdle.
This article was brought to you by Ladbrokes.
