York’s Ebor meeting comes to a close, whilst the likes of Newmarket, Goodwood and the Curragh all host high-quality racing. Sam King has four selections for Saturday’s top-class action including a strong fancy in the big one at York.
I'm not surprised to see the early price available on Baheer tumble but even at his current price, he looks a decent bet to land the Julia Graves Roses Stakes at 4.45.
Having impressed Richard Hannon with his homework he was sent off 5/4 to make a winning debut at Newbury but fluffed his lines when beaten Zoulu Chief, who won a handicap here in fine style on Wednesday. Richard Hannon's charge made no mistake when scoring over the same course and distance second-time-out and would have gone into plenty of notebooks after his run at Goodwood last start.
The son of Mehmas clearly failed to handle conditions when fourth in the Molecomb Stakes. He travelled powerfully throughout the five-furlong contest but failed to quicken in testing conditions when push came to shove.
In contrast, the reopposing Purosangue seemed to relish the soft ground at Goodwood and has to prove he can produce to a similar level back on this rattling quick surface.
Richard Hannon obviously thinks similar having said on his Unibet blog: "The ground was very soft in the Molecomb so he'll be much, much happier under these conditions. We were looking at running him in the Gimcrack but had Haatem for that, and he's got plenty of speed so won't have any problem dropping back in trip. He is a bull of a horse, but a very good one and I fancy him quite strongly."
I'm not shocked to see him much closer in the market now to what they were last night, and I expect Baheer to reverse the form and come out on top here.
Selection: Baheer – General 3/1
It's hardly surprising to see Sweet William at the head of the Sky Bet Ebor (3.35) market. However, he's short enough in the betting for a race like this and with firms paying up to eight places each-way, it's worth siding with something at a bigger price.
Four-year-olds have won the last two renewals and Real Dream looks to have the perfect profile for this type of race. Sir Michael Stoute's runner caught the eye when a running on third over a mile and a half here at the Dante meeting and it was hardly surprising to see connections step him up to today's trip at Ascot next time.
He duly obliged at odds of 5/6 when staying on strongly to score by four and a half lengths at Ascot last start. An 8lb rise in the weights for that effort demands more but he looks progressive and is open to any amount of improvement in staying handicaps.
In the same race, I could easily see Ocean Wind running into a place. Roger Teal's classy stayer returned from a mammoth absence with a really solid third-place finish in the Listed Coral Marathon and it's easy to ignore his recent effort in soft ground in the Group 1 Goodwood Cup.
He got within a length of Stradivarius in the Sagaro Stakes at Ascot in 2021 and was officially rated 112 after that effort.
A mark of 103 is surely workable and the first-time visor looks like an interesting addition.
Selections: Real Dream – General 7/1 and Ocean Wind – General 50/1
We head to Newmarket for our fourth wager. The Listed Hopeful Stakes at 3.55 features plenty of horses dropping in grade following down-the-field runs and it's Emaraaty Ana that may be capable of capitalising.
Kevin Ryan's charge has only been seen twice this season and has failed to make an impact in either start. That said, he showed up well enough in the Group 1 Queen Elizabeth Stakes at Royal Ascot and was only beaten six and a half lengths at the line.
It's also interesting that it took him until this time last year to come to life and it's quite possible he's just a horse that relishes the second half of the season. He placed in three consecutive Group/Grade 1 races towards the backend of 2022 including culminating his campaign by finishing runner-up in the Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint.
Selections: Emaraaty Ana – General 7/2
