Sam King landed 7/1 and 7/2 (advised prices) winners yesterday and he’s back with three selections on Wednesday in an attempt to keep the ball rolling.
We head to Southwell for our first two selections, starting off with the At The Races App Form Study Restricted Novice Stakes at 2.40.
Newcomers Eagle Angel and Rogue State both require plenty of respect especially with the latter holding a Group 2 entry and the former being a well-related type for top connections. However, neither have been particularly well supported in the morning markets and experience may prove crucial in this contest.
Marco Botti has done well with his juveniles this season and Caelan must enter calculations, but the Kempton contest he landed on debut doesn't look overly strong and he may struggle to give weight all round.
With all that in mind, it's James Ferguson's once-raced Queen Of Atlantis that makes the most appeal. She made her debut when second at Newbury back in June and although it certainly wasn't a vintage contest by the track's juvenile standard, there were plenty of positives to take from the initial effort as the daughter of Advertise stuck on well without being knocked about in the closing stages.
The James Ferguson-trained filly should have learned plenty from that and has been given a nice break subsequently to strengthen up. Moreover, there's some substance to the form. The winner, Woodhay Wonder, was only beaten just over five lengths in the Group 2 Duchess Of Cambridge Stakes at Newmarket on her next outing and went on to land the £100,000 Tattersalls Somerville Auction Stakes at the same venue last month.
Furthermore, Queen Of Atlantis was doing all her best work at the finish when runner-up at Newbury and with the extra furlong on offer here today surely to suit, she looks to hold every chance of getting off the mark at the second attempt.
Selection: Queen Of Atlantis - General 5/2
Later on the card, I'm happy to see Wizarding drop back to seven furlongs in the St Leger Form Study On attheraces.com Handicap (4.25) and hopefully that can do the trick.
The Heather Main-trained runner suggested he would be back in the winners' enclosure soon when a good fourth at Bath 18 days ago. In all truth, Gina Mangan probably kicked her mount for home too soon on that occasion given all his best form is over the seven furlongs and although he had plenty of his rivals on the stretch with three furlongs to run, the petrol gauge inevitably ran out. That said, he did stick on well once headed to finish fourth, despite stumbling close home.
Thomas Equinas heads the current betting as he bids to complete a hat-trick, but all of his best form has come at Chelmsford, and this looks like a deeper race than what he landed last time.
A mark of 60 puts Wizarding 2lb below his winning rating over seven furlongs at Kempton last season and jockey George Wood was seen to good effect with a well-judged but aggressive front-running ride at Chelmsford over the weekend. I wouldn't be surprised were he to opt for similar tactics here and with a good draw in stall five to boot, the pair could be tough to peg back if allowed to dictate matters out in front.
Selection: Wizarding – General 13/2
We head to Kempton for our final wager and I'm expecting Akkadian Thunder to leave his debut effort well behind in the Unibet Support Safe Gambling Novice Stakes at 7.00.
Although only eighth on debut over seven furlongs at this track back in early June, he shaped miles better than the bare result and went straight into my tracker after putting in some pleasing late work.
I'm not surprised we haven't seen him again over the last few months and he seemed the type that would strengthen up plenty for that initial experience. Very few got into that race he made his debut in here with the first four home all sitting prominent and the next three home all being situated no worse than midfield. In all truth, those towards the rear didn't stand much of a chance of getting involved, but Akkadian Thunder did stay on really nicely once the penny had dropped and his last three furlongs (34.78s) were quicker than anything else in the field, with his penultimate furlong split of 11.17s particularly impressive.
I'm under no illusion that this gelding would have gone very close but for being sharper away from that stalls that day and with the step up to a mile sure to suit, this Sam Sangster-bred gelded son of Night Of Thunder can put that experience to good use this evening and get off the mark.
Selection: Akkadian Thunder – General 7/2
