Conditions were described as soft at Worcester on Wednesday morning but there is little rain forecast and above average temperatures. The ground is likely to be tacky/holding for todays card.
1.55 Worcester
Galtee Mountain won his last three in the spring and is only 4lbs higher than when making all at Fontwell back in March. Five of his six career wins have come at Fontwell but there is no reason he shouldn’t be as effective on this track – won at Warwick over hurdles. He has no history of going well fresh, however, and the stable’s runner at Aintree on Sunday was beaten more than sixty lengths.
If I thought GLOIRE D’ATHON was sure to go in the ground, I would be very confident of the 6-y-old running a very big race in the Memorial for jockey Richard Davies who died in a fall at Southwell back in July 1996.
The selection has been kept away from soft ground since joining his current yard of Sarah Humphrey from Henry De Bromhead although he did win a Bumper in the French provinces on ground officially described as heavy although it could easily have been just on the soft side of good.
Aidan Coleman keeps the ride, and he has not been getting many rides since losing the position as stable jockey to Olly Murphy. He may still get some big rides in the colours of JP McManus for British trainers this season, but he has had just one ride for a British trainer in the last fortnight although he did have a ride in the Bumper at Chepstow on Wednesday. Gloire D’athon is his sole ride today.
Recommendation: Gloire D’athon at 7/2 with William Hill
5.00 Stratford
Kim Bailey has come out of the traps flying in recent weeks with, at the time of writing, his last three runners all striking gold. It wasn’t a great race that SAMATIAN won over C&D here less than a fortnight ago but a 3lbs rise is fair and he would have won much easier had he not blundered at the third when leader The Yellow Mini jumped right across him.
David Bass lost an iron briefly after that error and, in the circumstances, the 5-y-old did very well to fend off a host of challengers coming to the last including Fazayte who shaped encouragingly back in fifth. The selection had his wind tweaked in the summer and that allied to the cheekpieces/tongue-tie combo brought about significant improvement last time.
Recommendation: Samatian at 11/4 with William Hill
3.25 Lingfield
John Gosden saddles three in the listed River Eden listed race for fillies and mares over 1m 5f. Ryan Moore takes over in the saddle on recent Kempton Maiden winner and market leader One Evening – owned by Coolmore and Lady Bamford – with Rab Havlin on Darmoiselle and James Doyle on PENNYMOOR and the latter gets the each way vote at 12/1.
One Evening could be anything and she looked potentially smart at Kempton, but that was over 1m 3f and she is not certain to appreciate this afternoon’s additional quarter of a mile.
Pennymoor has an all-weather record of 1-2 having finished a 4L second in the corresponding race 12 months ago – Viola held – when thrashed by subsequent Group 1 winner Sea La Rosa. She is unlikely to face anything of that quality today and she had a recent pipe opener on turf when going off far too quickly and folding tamely under Dettori.
The classic generation receive 6lbs weight-for-age from their elders and have won the race for the last four years. The Gosdens’ One Evening and Darmoiselle are the only three-year-olds in the field while William Haggas has saddled the winner three times in the last five renewals. He relies on the penalised Bartzella today with his lightly raced 4-y-old making her all-weather debut.
Recommendation: Pennymoor EW at 12/1 with William Hill
4.00 Lingfield
The listed Fleur De Lys Stakes for fillies and mares over a mile has been monopolised by the big Newmarket yards in recent years. Today’s market is headed by the 3-y-olds Crystal Caprice representing Sir Michael Stoute and the William Haggas trained Queen Aminatu.
They must go close, but INTERNATIONALANGEL has won half of her ten starts on the all-weather and ran well over an inadequate 7f in a stronger race at Newmarket last time in first-time cheekpieces. The aid is dispensed with by Jane Chapple-Hyam on this occasion, and James Doyle takes over in the plate.
Recommendation: Internationalangel EW at 9/2 with William Hill
