Saturday racing preview: Alex Hammond blog

By Alex Hammond

18:55 · FRI September 20, 2024

Check out our columnist's guide to Saturday's big-race action at Newbury.

The Flat season may be heading towards its conclusion, but we are still enjoying some great sport. I really enjoyed last week’s Betfred St Leger meeting at Doncaster and the crowd there on the Saturday was superb. There was a real hum around the track and the atmosphere was uplifting. It was encouraging to see so many people on Town Moor.

This week we also enjoyed City Of Troy fever taking over Southwell and I felt energised by the justified (no pun intended) hype around his gallop. It’s hard to analyse the piece of work when you aren’t aware of all the data. For example, how much weight the horses all carried and the added information that speed and sectionals would have given us. However, that may all come out in the wash and to the naked eye he looked great. He’s Sky Bet’s 11/4 favourite to given Aidan O’Brien a first win in the Breeders’ Cup Classic at Del Mar in November.

Dave Massey on City Of Troy at Southwell

This weekend I am off to Newbury for the Dubai Duty Free International Weekend. There’s an eight race card for their Premier Raceday on Saturday with the Dubai International Airport World Trophy Stakes kicking things off at 1.30pm.

Annaf is Sky Bet’s 7/2 favourite, and he’s got the back class to win this if he’s back to his best. He contracted pneumonia when on the flight to Dubai back in March and only returned to the track at Haydock in the Sprint Cup two weeks ago.

This is an easier task than his Haydock return, and he escapes a Group Two penalty as his win at that level came back in February.

I’m going to take him on though with the Richard Hughes-trained No Half Measures. Hughsie has booked his old weighing room colleague Ryan Moore for the ride on this improving three-year-old filly and an entry in the Abbaye shows that more is expected of her. Five furlongs on soft ground holds no fears either.

Race two is the Dubai Duty Free Autumn Cup Handicap and there could be a fairytale farewell for veteran Not So Sleepy if he can repeat his win in this contest 12 months ago. He could be hanging up his boots after this, but a price of 11/1 shows that he has a tough task in his repeat bid.

Lieber Power is a horse I’ve been following, and he can run another good race to go with his consistent efforts on his last five outings. He steps up in trip and must keep improving to defy a handicap mark that has raised 13lbs for those recent outings. He’s 5/1 second favourite here.

The 100/30 favourite is Waxing Gibbous who is also extremely consistent since moving into handicaps. She will appreciate the rain that has hit the track and proved that the trip is no problem when runner up in the Old Borough Cup at Haydock on her most recent outing. I feel I must stick with Lieber Power but it’s a tough race to win.

The Dubai Duty Free Handicap over a mile-and-a-quarter comes next. I think this could be another one for Hughes and Moore who combine with Whip Cracker who is 11/2 third favourite with Sky Bet.

He looked like a progressive three-year-old but was heavily beaten in the Britannia at Royal Ascot and has subsequently been gelded. His second place behind Jayarbe in the Fielden Stakes at Newmarket in the spring looks good form. There are doubts about some of the protagonists around ground conditions, so I hope this lad can bounce back after his short break.

Then we have the feature Dubai Duty Free Mill Reef Stakes, a Group Two for the two-year-olds. I’m torn between the experience of Godolphin’s Shadow Of Light and the unexposed profile of Powerful Glory. It would appear I’m not alone as Sky Bet have them as 9/4 joint favourites.

Richard Fahey spoke positively in his Sporting Life column about the latter and it’s telling that he’s chucking him in here after just the one run in a Pontefract newcomers maiden. The trainer has won this twice in the past including with Ribchester who went on to be a top class miler.

Later in the afternoon the Conundrum Consulting Handicap over seven furlongs looks worth a closer look.

Movie Maker is 9/2 favourite on his handicap debut for a team worthy of respect in this sphere. Saeed Bin Suroor and Oisin Murphy have a good record together (29% strike rate) and the trainer does well with his handicap debutants.

Like the favourite, Amphius also holds an entry on Champions Day in the Balmoral Handicap, and he also has a progressive profile. He’s a full brother to Sangarius and Greek Order and both handled cut in the ground, so I hope he will too. He travels well in his races and his trainer Harry Charlton has hit form recently after a quiet summer.

Franny Norton is also in action on Saturday with seven booked rides at Chester. However, this will be the last time his name appears in a racecard as he announced his retirement earlier in the week.

He started out back in 1988 with his best season numerically coming in 2018 when riding 112 winners. It seems incredible that his first major win came in the 1991 Ebor, when he did 7 stone 3lbs! He’s on 15 winners for 2024 and it will be a surprise if he can’t add to that with one or more of those rides on Saturday.

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