Alan Thomson, the former Racing Editor at the Daily Record, puts up five tips for Saturday from Newmarket, Wetherby & Wolves. View selections below
REPEATER (2.40) can dig into his deep reservoir of stamina to lift the 1m 2f Conditions event at Newmarket on Saturday. Ten furlongs is quite a severe test for two-year-olds but Sir Mark Prescott’s juvenile looks up to the task. He came to the racecourse with a tall reputation after catching the eye of work-watchers in early spring, but didn’t look straightforward on his wayward debut at Leicester. Punters have kept the faith, however, sending Repeater off favourite on five of his six starts (winning twice), and he looked a shade unlucky when just failing to peg back Rougemont in a tactical three-horse event back at Leicester last time. My selection is 3lb better off with Rougement here and can take his revenge. Godolphin colt Mojave was in visually spectacular form at Leicester earlier this month, romping home by six lengths. There have been mixed messages from that race, with third horse, Moidore, winning on Tuesday at Nottingham, while fourth home, Star Date, flopped at Musselburgh the following day. Hazaz is probably the form pick on the back of his third to Tell Dad at Newbury, but that was over seven furlongs, and his stamina has to be taken on trust.
Sir Henry Cecil and Tom Queally enjoyed one of their greatest moments at HQ with Frankel in the 2000 Guineas and they team up at their local course with JET AWAY (4.25). He ran away from his field at York, scoring in a canter by nine lengths, and this Listed event is there for the taking. Dux Scholar, second to Bubble Chic in the Group 3 Darley Stakes, may do best of the three-year-old generation.
A few of steeplechasing’s big guns come out of summer storage for the bet365 Charlie Hall Chase at Wetherby and DIAMOND HARRY (3.20) may have the edge over Time For Rupert. Diamond Harry hasn’t been seen since scooping the Hennessy Gold Cup at Newbury last November but first time out is the time to catch him. Indeed, Diamond Harry has won on his debut every year since landing a Newbury bumper back in 2007. He is best with a bit of cut in the ground, so showers would be welcomed at the Yorkshire track.
Rookie Scots trainer Keith Dalgleish has quickly made a name for himself and has wasted no time transferring his hot turf form to the all-weather at Wolverhampton. Indeed, his runners at the Midlands track in the past nine days have yielded two winners, two seconds and a third and he has prospects of adding to that tally on Saturday’s twilight card.
FREQUENCY (5.50) hasn’t been seen on the Polytrack since winning at Lingfield in April but his last run at Newcastle, when finishing fourth, suggested Dalgleish has him teed-up for a winning return to the synthetic surface.
Stablemate WISE UP (8.50) has to defy a 6lb rise for scoring over course and distance last time and, although meeting his elders this time, the three-year-old is clearly in great fettle.
Tally Ho
Alan
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