Alex Hammond Blog with her best bets for the forthcoming action

By Alex Hammond

20:09 · THU August 08, 2024

We are currently revelling in some sensational competition right now. If you haven’t been swept along by the Olympics, then I guess sport is just not for you.

I’ve been loving it and been thoroughly inspired by those incredible athletes in Paris. Although any attempts to break any records are well in my rear view mirror!

There’s plenty of team action closer to home too with the Racing League in full swing and the Shergar Cup taking place on Saturday. I understand that these haven’t quite captured the imagination as the Olympics have, but I have to say I was as dubious as the next person about the Racing League, but it has warmed up nicely and is a fun competition.

The one thing that seems to have passed the naysayers by is the competitiveness of the seven races on each evening. Not all the fields are filling unfortunately but we are still being treated to some extremely competitive handicaps and there is value to be found for the shrewd punter, team shenanigans aside.

For those of you not following along, we have had two out of the six fixtures in the league to date, at Yarmouth and Wolverhampton. Chris Hughes (with a little help from Newmarket trainer Charlie Fellowes) is team manager of The East, and a more competitive manager you will not find. Well, other than the other six team managers, the most vocal of the rest probably being Jamie Osborne, who is plotting to overthrow the runaway leaders with his Wales and the West squad at Chepstow on Thursday night.

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Having had a good look at each of Thursday’s seven contests I’m going to try and uncover a winner or two, so here goes.

The first kicks off at 5.30pm and is a mile handicap where the top weight is Dutch Decoy. For those of you buying into the team game, he’s flying the flag for Scotland and for once there is a connection to the region thanks to trainer Charlie Johnston, he of good Scottish stock.

Dutch Decoy sneaks into this off a rating of 87, which is 5lbs less than he’ll be asked to carry in future handicaps. He ran a corker at Goodwood last week, finishing runner up in the Golden Mile and if the handicapper had the chance to put him up immediately, he’d be running off 92. I was sent a video of a seriously heavy rain shower at the track on Wednesday and that must mean the ground will have eased from the original description of good to firm. Either way, Dutch Decoy won’t be inconvenienced. He’s been put in as Sky Bet’s 3/1 favourite.

Azahara Palace could be one for place punters with Sky Bet paying 4 places instead of 3. She’s 9/1 and has an unblemished record over this course and distance (she’s Scotland’s second string).

Kevin Blake is taking this team manager role very seriously and he’s got form when it comes to race planning as that’s something he helps Joseph O’Brien with. Billy Loughnane was born in Ireland, and he gets the leg up on the George Boughey trained Etoile D’Alexandre.

She looks capable of scoring maximum points for the team and is an appealing 13/2 shot to win this 7 furlong contest. Interestingly, the other Ireland runner Brunel Nation is market leader at 7/2 for trainer Richard Hughes, who has enjoyed a nice winner or two recently. Between the duo Ireland look the team to beat at 6.00pm.

Race three on the night takes place at 6.30pm and is run over 6 furlongs. I may be a fool to try to predict when Eminency is going to win again, but it can’t be too far off. He’s yet to win a handicap but has been knocking at the door and is 11/2 to win here. Incidentally, the East have a good hand in this on a night where their challenge doesn’t look particularly strong. Alpine Girl is their other runner and she’s currently 9/2 favourite to win, but I fancy her team mate more strongly here on his drop back to 6 furlongs, which should suit.

At 7 o’clock it’s the turn of the speedsters over 5 furlongs and I once again have one team against the field.

This time it’s London and the South who send out Apeeling for Andrew Balding and my pick, Miss Attitude, for Jack Channon. The latter is also well in at the weights after a good run at Goodwood. Charlie Bishop gets back on board this filly and they have a good partnership together which has yielded form figures of 1,1,4,5,2. She can be keen, but he knows how to keep a lid on her.

She’s a 7/2 shot at the time of writing. Haymaker looks her main danger, and the market suggests that too with Hughie Morrison’s runner 9/2 second favourite. He comes here in superb form and holds an entry in Saturday’s Shergar Cup, so it looks like this is his priority (although it’s not unheard of for sprinters to turn out again quickly).

The 7.30 contest is the second of the £50,000 races, so the second of our 0-90 races, following the 7.00. I sided with a horse called Lieber Power at Newbury three weeks ago and he turns out here for Andrew Balding and Oisin Murphy. He was only beaten a nose at Newbury and the form has a good look to it, so I shan’t jump ship at Chepstow. He’s 5/2 favourite.

Have Secret can give The North a much needed win in our penultimate race over a mile and a quarter at 8 o’clock for Richard Fahey and Oisin Orr. He is 7/2 for this after staying on strongly from the rear in the League at Yarmouth two weeks ago. He’s been nudged up 1lb in the ratings for that. The winner got the run of the race that day and those staying on from the back looked inconvenienced. It was in a class above this contest so hopefully he can gain compensation for that run here.

The finale is worth £75,000 and as a result it’s hard to predict with a strong line up.

Akkadian Thunder has a slightly different profile to his rivals in that this will be just his ninth start. He’s in good hands with David O’Meara, and Billy Loughnane will be hoping he can ride his first winner for the powerful northern yard who seem to specialise in handicappers with longevity. He’s certainly a progressive looking horse and he’s already won two of his five starts since joining O’Meara in the spring.

Maybe one of the Eve Johnson Houghton pair can trouble the judge. Jumby is reunited with Oisin Murphy, who has won once on him from two goes, he’s 9/1. Charlie Bishop gets on board Streets Of Gold, who is one point bigger at 10/1. He’s won three races on this lad, but he wouldn’t want bucket loads of rain. It’s a tough finale.

After Chepstow I’ll be preparing for Ascot’s Shergar Cup meeting and unlike the Racing League this is now long established in the racing calendar. This year for the first time there will be an equal split of male and female jockeys, and if you’re not in for that, then you and me can’t be friends.

I’m really looking forward to it and the opportunity it affords to see some of the world’s big name riders in action.

We all need a little fun in our lives, so if you fancy some light-hearted entertainment, mixed in with extremely competitive action on the track, I’ll see you there.

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