Find out who the Timeform experts fancy at Doncaster and the Irish Champions Festival on Sunday and which horses stand out on ratings and Flags.
Best bets from the Timeform experts
Billy Nash: Torivega - 13:50 Curragh
Irish-trained sprinters have won five of the last six renewals of the Bold Lad and the home team looks strong again this year, the pick of whom may well be Torivega. He has only one win to his name, a maiden at Cork last July, but has been shaping really well in defeat this season, in the frame on all three starts at this track and better than the bare result on more than one occasion. He'll need a bit of luck in running given his style of racing but David Egan has options from stall 12 and there is sure to be plenty of pace on.
Tony McFadden: Henri Matisse - 16:10 Curragh
Few juveniles have created as big an impression as Henri Matisse this season and he can prove too strong for his rivals in the National Stakes. The form Henri Matisse showed when beating Tyros Stakes winner Hotazhell in the Futurity Stakes is comfortably the best on offer - he's 6 lb clear on Timeform's ratings - and he would have been even more dominant had he not jinked inside the final furlong just after hitting top gear. He's still improving and has the ability to propel himself right to the head of Timeform's two-year-old pecking order.
Ratings and Flags
The Ratings Choice
Henri Matisse - 16:10 Curragh
The Moylgare Stud Stakes and the National Stakes both feature juveniles with plenty in hand on Timeform's ratings as Bedtime Story is 10 lb clear in the former event while Henri Matisse is 6 lb clear in the latter. Bedtime Story arguably faces more promising rivals so perhaps Henri Matisse is the more solid of the standard-setters.
He made it three from three when producing a smart performance to win the Futurity Stakes on his first start at seven furlongs here last month, and he won with more in hand than the margin of a length might suggest as he looked set to go clear only to jink left inside the final furlong. That kept the margin down but he was still well on top and is an exciting prospect.
The Timeform Flag
Ten Pounds - 14:40 Doncaster
Flags: Horse In Focus, Top-Rated
Ten Pounds completed the hat-trick in impressive style on his handicap debut at Newcastle last month and looks like a smart sort who will make his mark at a higher level.
That Newcastle handicap attracted some useful, in-form horses and looked much more competitive than the novices Ten Pounds had won, but he still proved a class apart from his rivals.
Ten Pounds impressed with how strongly he travelled and how readily he settled maters after quickening to the front over a furlong out, and even a 9 lb rise in the weights may not be enough to check the progress of this unexposed three-year-old.
Safer gambling
We are committed in our support of safer gambling. Recommended bets are advised to over-18s and we strongly encourage readers to wager only what they can afford to lose.
If you are concerned about your gambling, please call the National Gambling Helpline / GamCare on 0808 8020 133.
Further support and information can be found at begambleaware.org and gamblingtherapy.org.
Fast Results
Scores
