Scottish Sun columnist and Racing TV analyst Ed Watson crunches the numbers on the return of the Sky Bet Sunday Series at Haydock, where he fancies history to be made at the penultimate stop of the 2024 edition.
THE BEST BET - LETSBEFRANK (5.45)
Few trainers have targeted the Sunday Series with as much purpose as Jim Goldie. No trainer has sent out more winners, either; five across the first four fixtures this year as things stand. Today is D-Day, however, as the jolly Jim sets his sights on scooping the £100,000 bonus on offer from sponsors Sky Bet for the first horse to win three times.
Goldie’s now-retired compatriot Keith Dalgleish was the width of a fag paper away from hitting the jackpot two years ago with Evaluation, but the six-figure carrot has remained tantalising out of reach. Until now. Goldie has two bullets to fire at the bonus at Haydock this weekend and I won’t be the least bit surprised if the shrewd Scot lands with both of them.
LETSBEFRANK gets the nod as the pick of his pair. This late-blooming Frankel four-year-old won at Hamilton (over 1m3f) and Thirsk (1m6f) in June under Amie Waugh, but posted another improved Timeform figure when a close third upped to today’s trip of 2m with Paul Mulrennan back on board at York three weeks ago, despite that race not panning out ideally from a pace perspective. The handicapper bumped him up 3lb for that effort, but I strongly suspect he has something in hand of his revised mark of 74.
The Inside Track: “He’s been progressive. We stepped him up to 2m at York last time and we wanted to give Paul another sit on him as his last two wins came for Amie. They went a bit of crawl at York, which I think they often do over 2m there. Hopefully that won’t be the case at Haydock as I’m quite confident about his chances.” - Jim Goldie, trainer
THE NEXT BEST - AMERICAN AFFAIR (6.15)
Since bolting up in the Series opener at Musselburgh in April, AMERICAN AFFAIR has been seen on a racecourse just twice since. Reining back with an in-form, progressive sprinter goes against all of Goldie’s natural instincts, but it’s been a case of needs must after the handicapper meted out a 10lb rise for his Musselburgh romp, then an 8lb one for his smooth, last-time-out success at Thirsk seven weeks ago.
The pace-setters couldn’t go fast enough to get Goldie’s four-year-old off the bridle, and it’s far from a stretch to say the official one-length winning margin grossly underplayed his superiority under Amie Waugh that day.
Goldie has resisted temptation to take a punt at some of the summer’s big prizes - he deliberately didn’t even enter American Affair for Goodwood’s Stewards’ Cup - to avoid another rise from the handicapper prior to his bonus bid. I’ve a feeling that patience will be rewarded here with that man Mulrennan back in the saddle.
The Inside Track: “I see him as a York type of horse, rather than a Hamilton one as he didn’t like coming down the hill there, so a fast, flat track like Haydock should suit him. My granddaughter, who rides him out every day, reckons he’ll be an even better horse on soft ground. I hope she’s right as I’m really looking forward to the autumn with him! My one worry is it’s seven weeks since his last run. You like to run these sprinters once they’re in form as it keeps them fit. I’ve just has to trust my instinct that I’ve not left him a gallop short or given him one too many” - Jim Goldie, trainer
THE TREBLE BET - AIRSPEED (4.45)
Hamilton form could hold the key to the nursery. Educating Rita was an impressive winner upped to 6f for the first time on her handicap debut two weeks ago and a 7lb rise may prove within her range. That wasn’t the strongest of contests, however, and Haydock is also a very different track to Hamilton.
Preference is for AIRSPEED, who has looked a work in progress so far but produced his most professional performance so far when making just about all the running to win a 5f maiden at the South Lanarkshire track earlier this month.
He’s far from the finished article, but he very much looked the part in the flesh that day and I suspect he’s going to be capable of a good bit better once he puts all the pieces of the puzzle together. An opening mark of 78 looks workable stepping up to 6f for his handicap debut here. He’s clear top-rated with Timeform to boot.
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