The Oaks Day

Good evening/morning all, the 3rd classic of the year is upon us and its the start of 2 very good days racing.

Here are my selections for Day 1.

13.35 - Princess Elizabeth Stakes
In my opinion, there are 2 horses here who have the best form on offer (with Starscope filling third). Those 2 in question are Beatrice Aurore and LADYS FIRST. Considering the latter is a 4 year old, and that age group have an incredible record in this race, I'll be siding with her.
7-1 Best Price.

14.10 - Investec Wealth and Investment
As I pointed out on twitter during the week, Amanda Perrett is in superb form. BLUE SURF ran out a ready winner on seasonal debut last year and continued to impress. The soft ground should be no issue at all and he's better at 10 furlongs.
5-1 Best Price.

14.45 - Investec Diomed Stakes
PRODUCER is 4 from 4 at Epsom and with the smallish field he should be able to see out the extra furlong (all wins have been at 7). This is enough for me to back him.
4-1 Best Price.

16.00 - The Oaks
On paper this looks like an excellent renewal, I hope it plays out that way. I cannot get away from MOTH. I backed her in the Guineas and with a better ride I am sure she would have finished a lot closer. Bags of stamina on the dam side and I'll be absolutely amazed if she's not in the top 3 at least. Although obviously I'm on for the win.
If this doesn't take your fancy, then Talent is of interest as an outsider, her form is very good for a 16-1 shot and she could start off the Oaks / Derby double for New Approach, with Dawn Approach looking the most likely winner on Saturday. I've had a very small e/w on her.
7-2 Best Price (Moth)
16-1 Best Price (Talent)

Best of luck all.

The Rascal

2000 Guineas Day

Hello to all readers. Its been a while, but I couldn't resist a blog for the first classic of the year.


2000 Guineas
All the talk is about Dawn Approach and Toronado and I couldn't put anybody off either of them. Dawn Approach is unbeaten in 6, Toronado unbeaten in 4. Both have been highly impressive and both probably deserve the win. However, because I simply cannot split them I will be having a speculative bet on a bigger priced horse and will be happy to get a place... and maybe, just maybe, if one of the 2 favourites have an off day, then you just never know. That horse is VAN DER NEER. This Richard Hannon horse has been impressive in his wins, and a couple of them have had their form franked Most notably by Masarah who won at Sandown in the week. The only loss for my selection was his 2nd in the Racing Post Trophy last year behind the highly regarded Kingsbairns, which is nothing to be too sad about. Small bet.
22-1 Best price (as of Friday night)

14.55 Goodwood
There are some tricky races today, and this is not that much easier. However, there is a horse in here who I believe to be pretty well handicapped after his last run, and he's been dropped a further lb from then. ACCESSION is the horse in question and I see this as an excellent e/w bet.
7-1 Best price (as of Friday night)

16.05 Goodwood
For a win bet today, I see no better than SENTARIL. 1 mile is no issue and he won on debut last year... Haggas is in excellent form and even though he's conceding weight all round here he's the best horse in the race, so should be ok. Possibly would not want the ground to get too firm, but I still see him winning.
3-1 best price (as of Friday night) 

That's all for me. Best of luck to all.

The Rascal