Godolphin’s Lost In The Moment, beaten in last year’s Betfred Ebor Handicap, last August, despite being the favourite in the York Ebor Betting, could make his seasonal reappearance back at the Knavesmire’s May meeting, when contesting the Group 2 Sportingbet Yorkshire Cup, writes Elliot Slater.
Sheikh Mohammed’s colt hasn’t actually won in his last nine outings, but he has put up some good performances in defeat; his second to the enigmatic, Beachfire, in the listed Wolferton Handicap at Royal Ascot, last June, and a fine effort again at 10 furlongs in the valuable John Smith’s Magnet Cup, when third to the very useful Green Destiny.
It, therefore, came as a big surprise when, on his following outing, trainer, Saeed bin Suroor, stepped Lost In the Moment straight up to two miles, to tackle the Group 2 Goodwood Cup. His decision was vindicated, when William Buick’s charge saw out the trip in great style, flying home inside the final furlong, and failing by only a head to peg back his stable companion, Opinion Poll, to give Sheik Mohammed a one-two in the prestigious event.
Beaten just over four lengths into a close seventh in the Ebor on his following outing, the Godolphin horse ran fourth in the Group 3 Cumberland Lodge Stakes over a mile-and-a-half at Ascot, in October. He was shipped out to Australia, where he took his chance in the ultra-competitive Melbourne Cup. Despite being sent off at 30/1 shot, Lost In The Moment ran a stormer being beaten just three lengths into sixth place behind French star Dunaden to stamp himself a genuine classy two-miler.
A Cup campaign is very much on the cards for the improving performer, whose 2012 season will likely kick off with another trip to York, where a good run could see him then tackle the Ascot Gold Cup at the royal meeting in June.
The Leeds Rhinos have given their chances of making the Super League play-offs a major boost, by signing Huddersfield Giants hooker, Shaun Lunt, on loan until the end of the season.
Lunt has struggled to establish himself in the starting line-up at the Galpharm, this season, with Giants coach, Nathan Brown, preferring to play converted scrum-half, Luke Robinson, in the dummy-half role. Lunt slipped further down the pecking order, earlier this campaign, following the arrival of Scott Moore, earlier this week.
However, there is no doubting Lunt’s quality; the player previously represented England in 2010. The 25-year-old is well known for his ability to unlock defences, due to his speed from behind the ruck and his clever passing.
The Rhinos have struggled at hooker, this season, following the departure of Danny Buderus in the winter. Leeds have been forced to use inexperienced duo, Paul McShane and Liam Hood. This has often led to scrum-half, Rob Burrow, being utilised in the role.
Brian McDermott says he is pleased to be able to bring in such a seasoned campaigner as Lunt to fill the vital hooker position.
“He has been a quality player for Huddersfield over a number of years, appearing in the Challenge Cup final, and representing England”, McDermott said. “I know he is excited about the challenge of coming to Leeds, and showing what he can do at the highest level.”
Lunt is understandably delighted with the move and after, a difficult first few months of the season, is excited about the opportunity to play regular rugby.
“I trained with the Rhinos yesterday and the players really made me feel welcome”, he said. “I need to get my head down now and work hard to make the most of this opportunity.”
Leeds are currently the third-favourite to make the Super League final in the rugby betting odds, behind Wigan and Warrington.
There are few shrewder trainers in the business than Newmarket handler, John Gosden.
The tremendously successful multiple classic winner looks to have a potentially serious stayer on his hands, in the shape of recent Kempton Queen’s Prize winner, Thimaar, who broke the track record when winning the two-mile affair at the Sunbury track in early April, writes Elliot Slater.
Thimaar showed decent form, last year, up to a mile-and-a-half, but seemed to come into his win when stepped up to two miles for the first time on his final outing of last season, in the Tabac Gordon Carter Handicap Stakes at Ascot, in September.
Sweeping through under the now retired Richard Hills to take up the running half a mile from home, Thimaar kept on relentlessly all the way up the Ascot straight to defeat Cunning Act by a length-and-a-half, in the manner of a horse who had really found his niche.
Raised just 4lbs for that win, the gelded son of Dynaformer made his seasonal bow at Kempton in the coveted Queen’s Prize Handicap under Sheikh Hamdan’s new first choice rider, Paul Hanagan.
After setting out to make all the running on his first attempt on Polytrack, he stuck to his guns in particularly determined fashion to see off the useful Mark Johnston-trained, Gulf of Naples, recording the fastest time ever for the course and distance in the process.
Gosden was quick to pencil in the Group 3 Sagaro Stakes at Ascot, in May, as a possible next outing for his improving stayer, and has given him an entry in the Group 2 Yorkshire Cup at York’s May fixture.
Bookmakers, clearly impressed by what they saw at Kempton, have introduced Thimaar into the ante-post market for the Group 1 Ascot Gold Cup at just 14/1, an indication of the respect in which they hold the still unexposed performer.
Fans interested in Kempton betting would do well to keep an eye on Thimaar, over the coming year.
Last year was certainly one to remember for trainer Kevin Ryan, who was on the score sheet 133 times, a tally that beat his previous best by some 25 winners plus he also secured a record haul in prize-money – £1,326,032 finding its way to his stables in Hambledon in North Yorkshire.
Ryan generally has his string ready for an early start to the campaign and he’s already notched up 10 wins this year but it tends to be the summer months when the stable really gets rolling and from May-July last year he produced 66 winners from 385 runners, a consistent 17% strike-rate that produced big level stake profits for his followers – though his bookmakers odds have been slashed as the bookies seek to curb their losses .
Looking through his string this year he appears to have even more quality in the yard and possibly even more ammunition to throw at the campaign. He looks particularly strong in the three-year-old department with many in that age-group having plenty of improvement to come. But don’t ignore his older horses where with the squad of horses that he has we would expect to see him strongly represented in most of the big sprints, especially the handicaps and Group races.
The juveniles as a group are not that forward this year for Ryan and the yard has only had a couple of runners so far although one of those was successful – Somethingaboutmary scoring in the first fibresand juvenile race of the year at Southwell after running very green.
Not only do the yard have a useful group of horses to aim a races but also a quality group of pilots to guide them home, with Phillip Makin taking the lion’s share of the rides but Ryan can also call upon Paul Mulrennan, Jamie Spencer and Neil Callan. He also has some smart female talent on the staff and alongside his daughter Amy (Ryan), Julie Burke and a 5lb claimer with American racing experience will provide solid back-up to the main riders.
The lass with the US experience is called Alice Cartwright and she has had 29 winners from 600 rides, so don’t write the horses chance off if you see he unfamiliar name next to one of the stable runners.
It’s hard to single out any horse racing betting tips or members of the equine team that are going to be head and shoulders above the rest of the stable but Our Jonathan an Masamah only need to find a little improvement to become very serious Group performers and York Glory is very much one to watch in the big sprint handicaps this season.
Richard Hannon’s unbeaten Harbour Watch is almost certain to miss the Qipco 2000 Guineas at Newmarket on May 5 having failed to recover in time to enter serious work and gain full fitness ahead of the first colts’ classic of the 2012 Flat campaign, writes Elliot Slater.
Speaking on behalf of his father, Richard Hannon Jnr suggested that time had run out to have the son of Acclamation ready in time to take on the likes of Camelot, Born to Sea and Nephrite, and his schedule will now be tailored towards being prepared for targets later in the season with the showcase Royal Ascot meeting in June the next obvious port of call with the Group 1 St James’s Palace Stakes surely top of the agenda.
Harbour Watch has proved very frustrating for connections who saw him rapidly develop into the best British juvenile in the first half of last season, his debut Salisbury six furlong maiden success being followed by a four-and-a-half-length rout of the subsequently smart Burwaaz, before he stepped into pattern race company for the first time at Glorious Goodwood at the end of July easily justifying Even money favouritism in beating Bannock by over two lengths in the Group 2 Tanqueray Richmond Stakes, a performance that catapulted him to the head of the derby betting market for this year’s 2000 Guineas.
Hannon’s charge was being prepared for a first step up to seven furlongs and a crack at the Group 1 Dewhurst Stakes at Newmarket in October when he met with what was described as a “minor setback”, but that issue forced him to miss the rest of last term and has not yet been satisfactorily resolved this season. Most firms have now removed Harbour Watch from the 2000 Guineas list in which he had featured prominently at odds of between 8/1 and 12/1.
John Oxx, the ‘Quiet Man’ of Irish racing, is under no illusions that the chances of his three-year-old, Born To Sea, coming within shouting distance of his lauded half-brother, Sea The Stars, are somewhat remote. However, he is nonetheless hopeful that the son of Invincible Spirit will prove himself a smart performer this term, a campaign that might see him attempt to maintain the family tradition in the Investec Derby at Epsom, in June, writes Elliot Slater.
On what we saw of him as a juvenile, there is no doubt that Born To Sea is a useful performer. His debut win over six furlongs in listed company at the Curragh showed he has a good cruising speed and a useful turn of foot. He can be forgiven defeat at the hands of the potentially smart Nephrite in Group 2 company, on his only other start, when second to the Ballydoyle colt, having been found to be lame just moments after the race ended.
Currently available at 12/1 to win the 2000 Guineas, and 20/1 in Epsom Derby betting, it is the former race that appears to be ideally suited to the Christopher Tsui-owned colt, for whom the Newmarket mile might be tailor made. He could make a wining return to the fray, just as Sea the Stars did a couple of years ago, on his way to being unbeaten as a three-year-old, with a stunning six Group 1 successes through the term at distances between eight and twelve furlongs.
It is impossible to expect the same of Born To Sea, who has apparently done well over the winter. On his sire’s side, he may well struggle to get more than 10 furlongs, but the Guineas is a real possibility. Having seen Oxx produce his sibling to win the great race on his seasonal bow, there are good reasons for believing the same might just be possible with this exiting Irish prospect.
Beckhampton-based trainer Roger Charlton has made his early-season plans for the exciting Top Offer perfectly clear in stating that he would like to run his colt in the Greenham Stakes if he is ready in time, and if he isn’t the current 7/1 ante-post third favourite in the Betfair Guineas betting is most unlikely to make the starting line-up for the first colts’ classic of the 2012 Flat season, writes Elliot Slater.
Charlton is unwilling to force the son of Dansili into an early reappearance and possibly set him back for the rest of the term, bearing in mind that the impressive Newbury winner is regarded as a seriously good long-term prospect and could well add to the already hugely successful string currently running in the colours of Prince Khaled Abdullah.
Charlton has explained that he would ideally like to take Top Offer to Newbury on April 21, (two weeks before the 2000 Guineas at Newmarket on May 5), and get an outing into his charge to put him spot on for taking on the likes of Camelot, Most Improved, Nephrite and Born To Sea, but if the horse simply hasn’t come to himself in time he will abandon that plan and will almost certainly be scratch the three-year-old from the starting line-up for the Group 1 contest on the undulating Rowley Mile at HQ.
Top Offer, (currently a top priced 25/1 in the Epsom Derby betting), went into the notebook as a horse to follow after making a sparkling racecourse debut at Newbury in August when justifying significant market support that saw him sent off the 6/4 favourite in a field of 15. Although he was slow to break and ran green in the early stages of the contest, Steve Drowne’s mount picked up in tremendous fashion through the final quarter mile and came clear to beat Sir Michael Stoute’s Pulverize by an easy three-and-a-half-lengths to stamp himself as one to keep on the right side in 2012.
A number of high profile contenders for the fast approaching John Smith’s Grand National at Aintree on April 14 have been scratched from their alternative target of the Irish Grand National at Fairyhouse on Monday, giving those that fancy them for the Liverpool marathon extra confidence that they will get a run for their money, writes Elliot Slater.
Amongst the most significant scratchings from the Irish contest are Cappa Bleu, Seabass, Apt Approach, Organisedconfusion, Giles Cross and Le Beau Bai. Cappa Bleu, currently a top priced 14/1 shot in the Grand National betting, was always going to have ‘the world’s greatest steeplechase’ as his main target and could well be one of three runners in the race for his Wales-based trainer Evan Williams, the others being the grand old stager State of Play, (placed in the race in each of the last three renewals), and the classy Deep Purple.
Organisedconfusion won the Irish Grand National last year for trainer Arthur Moore and is another to have had Aintree at the top of his agenda all season. One of the youngest horses in the race, the seven-year-old could be ridden by Nina Carberry with Betfair Grand National 2012 odds of 25/1. Giles Cross is another to be offered at 25/1, the horse who has finished runner-up in the last two Welsh Grand Nationals having managed to get his head in front last time out when just holding on from the useful Neptunes Collonges in the Grand National Trial Handicap Chase in the Haydock mud.
Seabass (16/1) is one of the main hopes for the Irish in the Liverpool spectacular having won his last seven races and could not be coming into the race in better form. He is likely to be ridden by either Ruby or Katie Walsh.
Michael Bell has welcomed home to his Newmarket base the globetrotting Wigmore Hall, who ran a fine race on World Cup night in Dubai, at the end of March, in finishing fourth behind the impressive Cityscape in the Group 1 Dubai Duty Free, writes Elliot Slater.
The classic-winning trainer was delighted with the way Wigmore Hall performed in Meydan and is already checking travel plans with a view to returning the five-year-old to North America, later in the season, to have another crack at the famous Arlington Million in Chicago in mid-summer, in which he finished an unlucky-in-running fourth last year.
The gelded son of High Chaparral has already proven his ability to mix it with some of the favourites in the horse racing odds, when scoring at Woodbine in Canada last year, beating Simmard by a hard-fought neck to land the Grade 1 Northern Dancer Turf Stakes under a finely judged ride from Jamie Spencer.
Bell believes that his charge is ideally suited by the style of racing Stateside, and has already been in touch with the powers that be on the other side of the Atlantic to enquire about the level of penalty Wigmore Hall might have to carry in his races over there.
A winner of the Group 2 Jebel Hatta at Meydan, last March, the six-time winner went on to finish third in the Dubai Duty Free a few weeks later, before heading off to the Far East, where he ran with credit but was out of the money in two Grade 1 contests.
Flying on to Chicago for the Arlington Million and finishing a rock solid fourth, he then won in Canada before returning to the UK to finish ninth to Cirrus des Aigles in Qipco Champion Stakes at Ascot, in October, at the end of a long and much-travelled season.
Bookmakers are already preparing to run for cover as they wait for an announcement as to whether or not the recent Betfred Cheltenham Gold Cup winner Synchronised will be allowed to carry top weight in the eagerly anticipated John Smith’s Grand National scheduled for Aintree on April 14, writes Elliot Slater.
Fully aware of the huge popularity of trainer Jonjo O’Neill, and in particular the multiple champion jumps jockey Tony McCoy, (one of the few racing faces known to most general sports fans following his victory in the 2010 ‘BBC Sports Personality of the Year’, a title that came his way primarily as a result of his emotional victory in that year’s Grand National on board O’Neill’s Don’t Push It), firms are already seeing public money coming for the JP McManus-owned Synchronised with once-a-year punters and racing professionals alike believing that the nine-year-old really does have a sound chance of becoming the first horse since the mighty Golden Miller way back in 1934 to win both the Cheltenham Gold Cup and the Grand National in the same season.
Synchronised had always appeared to be the ideal type for the Grand National being a proven stayer, having landed both the Midlands Grand National and the Welsh Grand National in previous seasons, but this term he has moved up a couple of notches by winning the Grade 1 Lexus Chase at Leopardstown before the turn of the year then outstaying the opposition after looking to be in trouble early on in the contest when coming through to win the Gold Cup under an inspired ride from the 16- times champion jockey.
As short as 7/1 with some firms now in the Grand National betting, Synchronised can still be backed at 10/1 in places alongside Junior, but should the green light be given for him to definitely take his chance the flood gates could open and see O’Neill’s popular stayer go off one of the shortest priced favourites for many years.