Alex Hammond reflects on the heroics of Enable and Stradivarius and looks ahead to the big handicaps at Goodwood.
How do you reflect on the victories of Enable and Stradivarius over the past few days?
What can I say, we are in a golden era of flat racing with horses like that to enjoy and I was thrilled to be at Ascot on Saturday to see the magnificent Enable win her second King George. I hadn’t seen her in the flesh before the weekend and it wasn’t a disappointment. What swagger she possesses. Enable is beautiful, her face is elegant, she is good bodied and like so many brilliant race mare’s she has a decent ass! Am I allowed to write ass?
If not you’ll have to change that ed. She has a lovely loose walk, but boy can she gallop. Those that are old enough to remember Grundy and Bustino made the obvious comparison after her duel with Crystal Ocean and the commentary from the excellent Simon Holt capped an emotional occasion (if you haven’t heard it, it’s well worth looking up).
Can you imagine the scenes if she can win an historic third Arc in October? She’s 11/10 with Sky Bet to do so and that might just look like value.
As for Stradivarius, we will probably see a bit more of him on a racecourse in the future as his owner harbours Arc ambitions himself, albeit not whilst Enable is around. When the mighty mare is relaxing in a paddock next year, he may well be geared towards a crack at the middle distance championship race at ParisLongchamp and it would be fascinating to see him dropping back in trip for that.
There appears to be nothing to beat him in the stayers division that’s for sure, other than himself as he only just does enough nowadays. Who can blame him? For some reason I keep thinking Dee Ex Bee can overhaul John Gosden’s star stayer, but he keeps coming up short. His trainer, Mark Johnston, may also be looking forward to Stradivarius taking a different path next season.
It looks a fantastic renewal of the Nassau Stakes on Thursday – have you found a bet in the race?
Clearly dual Guineas winner Hermosa is going to be a tough nut to crack, but I think it’s worth taking her on at the prices, particularly as she showed her fallibility in the Coronation Stakes when second to Watch Me at the Royal meeting. For that reason I’m going with Mehdaayih to give John Gosden and Frankie Dettori another Group One victory.
She looked superb when winning the Cheshire Oaks back in May and was incredibly unlucky in the Investec Oaks at Epsom. Any followers of the French action on Sky Sports Racing will have liked what they saw when she bounced back with a Group Two win at Saint-Cloud at the end of June and I think it will be fascinating to see Hermosa and Mehdaayih clashing at the intermediate trip of ten furlongs. Mehdaayih is a 7/2 shot with Sky Bet.
Can you crack Friday’s Unibet Golden Mile and Saturday’s Unibet Stewards’ Cup?
Well, I’m not making any promises! There are a few horses that catch the eye in Friday’s race for various reasons. Mojito is the market leader after he came back off a long absence to win the Coral Challenge at Sandown and whilst it was a superb training performance by William Haggas to get the horse to win after 20 months off, there is a chance he may run flat (or bounce as it’s commonly known) on his second start after such a long layoff. For that reason I’m happy to oppose him.
I’ve followed Escobar off a cliff and then wasn’t on when he won his first race for a year at York and I’m not confident he’s the type of horse to back up a win. He needs things to fall right and whilst he’s very capable of winning, I’m taking him on too.
Given a favourable draw, History Writer could run a decent race for his in-form trainer David Menuisier. He ran behind Mojito at Sandown, but the ground looked plenty quick enough for him that day and the awful weather they had on day one of Goodwood will have been right up his street.
He’s never run at the Sussex track, so that’s an unknown, but he has only had 14 starts in his life, so there could be more improvement to squeeze out of him. In the event Flaming Spear is turned out again quickly after his run in the Lennox on Tuesday, I’d want him running for me too.
The Unibet Steward’s Cup is as tough as race as any to find the winner in, so I’ll try and find you a bit of each way value in the six furlong handicap. If the ground is on the easy side, then Jedd O’Keeffe’s Air Raid will be on my shortlist.
He won the Scottish Stewards Cup at Hamilton last time out and is an exciting, progressive sprinter. He’s a 16/1 shot with Sky Bet. Another horse I’ve had my eye on this season is Vanbrugh and I’m not writing him off just yet. He also 16/1 and you can draw a line through his latest run at Chester because he lost a front shoe and believe me, you don’t want to go round Chester on three wheels!
Prior to that run, things didn’t go to plan in the Wokingham and for that reason, he’s one I’m keen to keep on the right side of. He won’t mind a bit of cut in the ground either, but also handles better ground, well from the limited chances he’s had to run on it.
One more for you at a much bigger price. 25/1 shot Arecibo could run well for David O’Meara. He ran a cracker behind gamble Only Spoofing at Ascot on Saturday over five furlongs and he won’t be inconvenienced by a return to six. It’s a toughie, so good luck with whatever you go for and have a great week.
