The 5 Best performances of the week….

Canford Cliffs

I think Richard Hughes deserves as much praise as the horse for the intelligent ride he gave the winner. From the deliberate miss of the break to the perfect position he held throughout the race right through to the perfectly timed challenge to overhaul the top class miler Rip Van Winkle at the finish it was a masterclass of jockeymanship. Of course it helps he had a horse as good as Canford Cliffs under him and the way the winner quickened from the furlong pole was a true indicator of greatness. This was a performance out of the top drawer from both horse and jockey.

Midday

Henry Cecil’s super filly hasn’t been out of the first three in any of her 6 attempts at Group 1 level and has won 3 of her last 4 runs at the highest level. Her run on Saturday marked her down as a very tough filly as, much like her Breeders Cup victory, she had to battle hard for her victory. It sets up an possible clash with Sariska, Dar Re Mi and Snow Fairy in the Yorkshire Oaks and if those four go to post then it could be the race of the season. Connections of Midday will relish the rematch with Sariska at level weights, Sariska will be looking to gain revenge on Dar Re Mi who beat her in the race last year and if Snow Fairy is to be regarded as a truly top class filly then she’ll need to beat her elders. I really hope all 4 line up…

Goldikova

Wow! What else can you say about the super mare. 10 Group 1 victories and her latest the easiest yet. The way she left Group 1 winner Music Show for dead was a joy to watch and surely a third Breeders Cup Mile is hers for the taking. A rematch against Paco Boy before then should settle the debate as to whether she stole the race at Royal Ascot and if Canford Cliffs lines up as well we could be in for one hell of an end to the flat season. You’d almost watch those kind of races without even having a bet. Almost!

Zebedee

Another incredible ride from Richard Hughes that cements his position as the king of the hold-up horse. If like me you’d backed Stone of Folca then I’m afraid the writing was on the wall from some way out and you just knew that Hughsie was going to get the Hannon horse up. That he did it so cheekily probably means we haven’t seen the best of Zebedee yet and all the top 5f races look well within his compass. Connections may even be tempted by a crack at the Nunthorpe given the massive weight allowance 2yo’s receive in the race. As a side not, Stone of Folca must be the best 2yo maiden in the country and deserves a drop in class just to get him off the mark.

Perfect Blossom

She didn’t win one of the more prestigious races of the week but this admirable filly made it 5 straight wins on the bounce with a gutsy success under the talented claimer, Amy Ryan. She’s now won all of her last 6 starts over 5f and based on this run there’s no reason to believe that her winning spree has come to and end just yet. When she won her first race of the season she was rated just 56 but last Friday with a 6lb penalty to shoulder it equated to a rating of 84 which makes for an improvement of 28lb in just 2 months. I’d imagine the handicapper won’t make things easy for her in the future but connections have had a great Summer so far and she owes them nothing.

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It was a good week for….

Hannon / Hughes

No prizes for guessing they’d be featuring here! Canford Ciffs was the star of the show but with a clean sweep of the Juvenile Group races and a couple of talented newcomers to boot it all meant they ended the week as both Top Trainer and Top Jockey. 9 winners (all trained by Richard Hannon) from 26 rides for Hughes and a level stakes profit of £10.49 is a pretty good meeting by anyone’s standards.

Gary

He had some decent winners throughout the 5 days but his exploits on the Thursday were simply incredible. 3 big winners and two massive priced seconds that had every chance of winning gave us some lovely returns but if either of his selections had made the frame in the last the two of us would be currently sitting on a sun drenched beach with pina-colada’s in hand or more likely sat at the roulette wheel in the 5 star Wynn Casino in Las Vegas. So close yet so far….

It was a bad week for….

John Dunlop

His stable continues in poor form and last week at his local track was a new low. It’s now been 17 days and 24 runners since he last sent out a winner and the 5 horses that he ran at Goodwood all ran terribly including the well fancied pair Tactic and Berling. 9th of 13 runners, 9th of 16, 9th of 10, 12th of 13 and 12th of 14 were their finishing positions and marks him down as a trainer to treat with extreme caution at the moment.

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3 horses to note from the week….

Freeforaday

His form figures for the season look less than inspiring and his two runs at Goodwood last week only produced a 6th and a 5th place finish but this horse will win a decent race before the end of the season. He finished an excellent 4th in the Jersey Stakes as a 66/1 outsider before disappointing in the Bunbury when he finished last. It was then on to Goodwood where he started his week running an okay race in the 7f handicap behind Citrus Star before everything seemed to come together thanks to the step up to a mile in Saturday’s Listed Thoroughbred Stakes. He travelled strongly throughout but was repeatedly denied a run and by the time he finally got the gap it was all too late. Obviously the mile is now his trip and he can now start to look like the 102 rated horse he is.

Dalghar

When she cruised into the lead and shot two lengths clear in Tuesday’s Betfair Cup it looked all over bar the shouting but, not for the first time, she didn’t quite get home and was caught by both Lord Shanakill and Cat Junior. I wouldn’t write her off just yet and would imagine she’s more than capable of landing a decent Group race before the end of the season. 7f on a flatter track and ridden with a little more restraint should see her back in the winners enclosure and I’d imagine connections are already eyeing up the 7f Prix De Floret on Arc weekend for her.

Start Right

A great ride from Fallon brought home the bacon for all us favourite backers when Start Right won the 3yo handicap on the Tuesday. The Luca Cumani  trained winner is obviously a horse going places and must enter calculations for all the top handicaps still to be run this season. The obvious target will be the Cambridgeshire and I await the opening betting on that race with great interest.

And 3 to avoid….

Duncan

Urrgh. This horse ran a stinker at Goodwood and I wouldn’t touch him with a bargepole even if he ran in a selling hurdle next time out. There seemed to be no obvious excuses for the poor run but as it’s not the first time he’s disappointed one can only conclude that the horse is just not that good or genuine. The fact that he had the winner Redwood behind him at Royal Ascot just proves that the horse simply can’t be relied upon to reproduce his best form on a regular basis. His last win came when he defeated Starfala in a Listed race and given that one’s form subsequently Duncan is nowhere near a 119 rated horse.

Arcano

As a 2yo he beat Showcasing, Special Duty and Canford Cliffs. As a 3yo he started the year running 3rd to Dick Turpin so he was fully entitled to be odds on to win the 5 runner conditions race he ran in on Saturday. According to the official ratings he was at least 19lb clear of all his rivals and the fact that he couldn’t beat a single one of them suggests that he has failed to train on from last year. I certainly won’t be backing him in the near future no matter how easy a task he seems to have been set.

Zacinto

The third of our terrible trio has to be Zacinto after another shockingly poor run at Pontefract last time out. It’s hard to believe that he was beaten only 1 1/4 lengths by Rip Van Winkle less than 10 months ago as he has finished last of 11, last of 9, 4th of 10, last of 5 and now 5th of 6 in his last 5 runs. He’s been tried at 8f - 10f, on a variety of ground, over straight and round courses on left and right handed tracks all to no avail. Even his latest drop down from Group 1 company to Listed class couldn’t bring about a change of fortunes and he’s another to steer well clear of at present.

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I’ll be back tomorrow with a look at my punting week. There were more ups and downs than the Big Dipper on Blackpool Pleasure Beach and by Saturday night there was a similar feeling of nausea as I stepped off my 5 day ride. Twice in one week I very nearly landed my biggest ever win…..

Good luck,
Gavin.

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