Timeform Daily View | Friday preview and tips

By John Ingles

20:03 · FRI July 19, 2024

John Ingles of Timeform provides an overview of the key things to note for Friday's racing.

Three points of interest

Five-timer beckons for Atlantic Gamble at Newbury

There can’t be many handicappers in better heart this summer than Atlantic Gamble who’s bidding for a fifth win on the bounce in Newbury’s mile contest for three-year-olds (13:50). Atlantic Gamble's initial starts for William Knight didn't promise much – he was sent off at 200/1, 100/1 and 80/1 for his first three outings - and he was never dangerous on his handicap/turf debut at Windsor in April, but since then he hasn’t looked back.

He gained his first win at Kempton the following month from a modest BHA mark of 56 when making good use of his handy draw to make the running. He then followed up at Yarmouth in June and completed a hat-trick back on the all-weather at Wolverhampton when grabbing a share of the spoils in a controversial contest where the rider of leader Supaspecialawesome eased up briefly close home, enabling Atlantic Gamble, who didn’t get the best of runs, to force the dead-heat.

There were no such dramas, though, when Atlantic Gamble brought up his four-timer back at Kempton last week as he had three and a half lengths to spare in a ready success over Tambourine Dream, a bigger margin than for his three earlier victories combined.

Atlantic Gamble has improved to become one of the highest-rated offspring of his sire the Sussex Stakes winner Lightning Spear and a 6 lb penalty for his latest success puts him on a BHA mark of 76 at Newbury. Reunited with Callum Shepherd who was on board for his win at Yarmouth, Atlantic Gamble has to give weight away all round but it’s hard to desert him in his current form and with a Timeform weight-adjusted rating that puts him 3 lb clear of the next horse and 8 lb clear of the third, there’s every chance the handicapper hasn’t caught up with him just yet.

Prolific course winner Jordan Electrics bidding for another Hamilton success

Jim Goldie conjured a thirteenth career victory from Euchen Glen at Ayr last month before the popular eleven-year-old finished a good sixth in last Saturday’s John Smith’s Cup at York, six years after winning the same race. Keeping the enthusiasm and ability of veterans is something of a Goldie trademark and another fine example this season is sprinter Jordan Electrics. As an eight-year-old he’s a mere youngster compared to Euchen Glen but it’s still remarkable that he’s proving better than ever at that age.

Jordan Electrics has won five of his eight races this term and now finds himself on a career-high BHA mark of 92, 20 lb above where he started the season. His first two victories this year came at Ayr and Carlisle but his last three wins in recent weeks have all come at Hamilton. That takes his total of career victories to fourteen, half of which have come at Hamilton where he’s also the six-furlong course record holder. He’s been successful there for all four of his trainers, having previously been with Linda Perratt, for whom he gained his first course win in June 2019, and then for Alistair Whillans and his son Ewan.

An eighth course win for Jordan Electrics in the Scottish Stewards’ Cup (18:35) would put Jordan Electrics alongside fellow sprint handicappers Economic Crisis, Hopes N Dreams and Diet among the track’s winning-most horses of recent times. This is a better-class race than those he normally contests, but he’s earned his place in the line-up having won his latest start over course and distance under William Buick earlier in the month by three and a half lengths, carrying 10-7 and making all the running. He seems sure to make another bold bid, though might find the Jack Channon-trained Tiriac hard to beat at the foot of the weights.

Rouge Sellier a rare runner for Sir Mark Prescott at Hamilton

When Jazz Scene won a handicap at Hamilton last month, he was Sir Mark Prescott’s first winner at the Scottish track for almost six years and only his second there since 2013. Jazz Scene is one of four horses from the stable who have made the long journey from Newmarket in recent months but that’s the same number of runners the yard had sent to Hamilton in the whole of the preceding ten years.

Prescott’s runners were slightly more frequent visitors to Hamilton in the past and enjoyed some success with selective raids, such as a double in June 2010 which followed three winners and a second from four runners at a two-day meeting the previous September. Going back further still, Hamilton twice figured among the tracks where Prescott’s prolific two-year-old Spindrifter notched his thirteen wins during the 1980 season.

As is often the case at this time of year, Prescott has been firing in the winners lately and was successful with both his runners on his last raid north of the border at Ayr earlier this month. Another on the scoresheet for Heath House in recent weeks was the three-year-old filly Rouge Sellier, a hugely impressive winner of a fillies’ novice at Kempton. Returning from eight months off after finishing third on both her starts at two and having undergone a breathing operation in the meantime, Rouge Sellier proved a revelation in a first-time hood, travelling strongly close to the pace in a well-run contest and then quickening clear to win easing down by fifteen lengths.

Needless to say, handicaps weren’t on the agenda for the well-bred Rouge Sellier, a close relative to Group/Grade 1 winners Lumiere and Sheikha Reika. Instead, she has her first opportunity to gain some black type in Hamilton’s Glasgow Stakes (19:10), a listed contest over the same eleven-furlong trip she won over at Kempton. Among her rivals, the standard is set by another filly, the Andrew Balding-trained Kalpana who was third in the Ribblesdale Stakes last month, but Rouge Sellier was so impressive last time that she’s worth a chance to take the step up in grade in her stride.

Tip of the Day

Born Ruler – 20:10 Newmarket

Flags: Horse In Focus, Hot Trainer, Top-Rated

Born Ruler has top weight to carry against his ten rivals and his penalty for winning at Ayr twelve days ago takes his weight to a hefty burden of 10-9. But he had plenty to spare when recording that recent win under another big weight of 10-4 and showed improved form with a return to hold-up tactics after missing the break.

Making smooth headway from the rear, Born Ruler drew clear in the final furlong and won easing down by four lengths from Pol Roger. That was a useful effort, and he looks capable of defying the 5 lb penalty.

In any case, that’s offset by the 7 lb claim of his young rider Fred Daly who has gained both his successes to date for the in-form Sir Mark Prescott yard, Born Ruler being one of the stable's nine winners already this month. Daly is already acquainted with Born Ruler, having finished second on him at Lingfield in May.

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