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Doncaster Racing Tips Today | Timeform expert predictions for Thursday
Find out who the Timeform experts fancy at Doncaster on Thursday and which horses stand out on ratings and Flags.
Best bets from the Timeform experts
Kieran Clark: Eartha – 13:50 Doncaster
The Richard Fahey-trained Eartha has been in my notebook since a very promising second on debut and looks sure to relish the step up to an extended six furlongs.
She duly confirmed that debut promise when again defeating Unspoken Love at Wetherby before running a cracker in what seemed a hot novice for Southwell standards on her return from nearly three months off last month.
Eartha is from a family that tend to improve when upped to this sort of trip and beyond, and she should be fine under more testing conditions - her dam a winner on soft – with her opening BHA mark of 79 looking on the lenient side.
Graeme North: Camille Pissarro – 14:25 Doncaster
They say the bigger the field the bigger the certainty and it’s difficult to look beyond Camille Pissarro in the second race at Doncaster, the Weatherbys Scientific £300,000 2-Y-O Stakes, which has drawn twenty runners.
Not unusually for a race of this type, plenty among that twenty have little chance and in Camille Pissarro they are taking on a colt whose penultimate piece of form, half a length second to Babouche in the Anglesey Stakes at the Curragh, is to my mind easily the best on offer.
Neither of his two runs in Britain (Coventry Stakes, Gimcrack) have seen him to best advantage but he was drawn on the flank on both those occasions and has fared much better here with stall 6 providing plenty of opportunity for cover.
David Johnson: Promethean – 16:10 Doncaster
David Menuisier continues in red-hot form and his unexposed colt Promethean is fancied to extend that spell further in this mile and a quarter handicap.
He’s lightly raced to date but there was a lot to like about his recent handicap debut at Newmarket when beaten just a short head by Great Chieftain.
That looks a very solid effort considering the races the winner has been operating in earlier in the summer and Promethean arguably shaped best, catching a bump leaving the stalls and ending up having to come from last as a result.
Given the way he finished off that day, he should be suited by a return to this trip, a view endorsed by his pedigree and it will be a surprise if he doesn’t prove better than a BHA mark of 85 by the end of the season.
Andrew Asquith: Back In Black - 16:40 Doncaster
James Fanshawe is having an excellent year, well on course to record his best since 2019 numerically when he had 53 winners (currently on 43), and he is in a rich vein of form at present, too, with four winners from his last eight runners at the time of writing.
He saddles Back In Black in the seven-furlong nursey and he looks very interesting now making his handicap debut. He shaped well when runner-up to a couple of useful sorts on his first two starts and, while he didn't need to improve to land the odds at Yarmouth last time, he overcame adversary to do so.
Back In Black stood out on form, but he stumbled badly around two furlongs out after clipping heels with another horse, and did particularly well to recover so quickly and still win with a bit up his sleeve. The bare form is nothing special, but he remains with plenty of potential now moving into handicaps, and the feeling is he'll be rated quite a bit higher than a mark of 86 at the end of the season.
Ratings and Flags
The Ratings Choice
Desert Flower – 15:00 Doncaster
Desert Flower has a smart pedigree and was also the pick on looks when making a winning debut over seven furlongs at Newmarket in July.
She overcame inexperience to do so, running green initially when coming under pressure, and readily moving clear in the final furlong in the style of a bright prospect, recording a good timefigure in the process.
Desert Flower started 4/1-on for her next start over the same course and distance and had no problem defying a penalty, not having to improve a great deal, but again displaying a striking turn of foot to readily move six and a half lengths clear.
She sets a good standard now moving into pattern company – she’s 4 lb clear on Timeform weight-adjusted ratings and has the Timeform small ‘p’ attached to her rating – so she is a strong fancy to take this step up in class in her stride and maintain her unbeaten record.
The Timeform Flag
Promethean – 16:10 Doncaster
Flags: Horse In Focus, Hot Trainer, Sectional, Top Rated
Promethean had some strong form in novice events as a juvenile last season, mixing it with some now-smart types in races which have worked out well, and he has caught the eye in two starts so far this season.
He didn’t settle fully on his return over a mile and a quarter at Newbury, but still ran well on his return from six months off, and he built on that effort when an unlucky loser back at a mile on his handicap debut at Newmarket last month.
Promethean received a hefty bump from the eventual winner leaving the stalls on that occasion, which resulted in him racing further back than ideal, and he made up lots of ground in the closing stages, only just failing to get his head in front.
He left the impression he’s on a very good mark, and that performance can be marked up further when taking sectionals into account, so he makes plenty of appeal now moving back up in trip from just a 2 lb higher mark.
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