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Timeform Daily View | Friday preview and tips
Tony McFadden provides an overview of the key things to note on the racing front on Friday.
Three points of interest
Dan Skelton bidding to enhance excellent Wetherby record
Dan Skelton operates at an overall strike rate of 18% in British jumps races but that increases to a highly impressive 29% when focusing on his runners at Wetherby.
Skelton's tally at Wetherby stands at 86 winners - the only courses where he's had more winners are Uttoxeter, Warwick and Market Rasen - and he will surely be confident of adding to his total given the strong team he is sending to the track for the two-day meeting which begins on Friday.
Skelton has seven runners at Wetherby on Friday and three of them are top-rated with Timeform, including the hat-trick seeking Queens Venture who has the Horse In Focus Flag in the two-mile-five-furlong handicap hurdle (15:35) after winning with plenty in hand at Southwell last week.
Queens Venture failed to make much of an impact on her first couple of starts over hurdles in the summer but, significantly, she finished fourth on each occasion which meant she qualified for a handicap mark. She duly made the switch to handicaps when reappearing in October and she made a mockery of her opening mark at Market Rasen before easily following up under a 7 lb penalty at Southwell.
She's runs off an 11 lb higher mark here but even that may not be enough to stop this progressive filly given the glowing report she received last time from Timeform's analyst who said "a hat-trick and more beckons, as it's entirely possible she's still got around 20 lb to play with".
Beckett introduces well-bred newcomers in strong Newmarket novice
The opening seven-furlong novice (12:35) at Newmarket should throw up plenty of winners next season as there are some well-bred and expensive newcomers representing powerful yards involved.
Godolphin's representative Charming Life, a son of Dubawi out of a listed winner, fetched €400,000 but that makes him only the third most expensive purchase in the field as Noble Champion, a half-brother to Group 2 winner Pogo, cost 500,000 guineas, while Magnetite, a son of Frankel out of multiple Group 1 winner Attraction, was bought for 575,000 guineas by Wathnan Racing.
Magnetite is also a full brother to Elarqam who won a Group 2 and was placed in the Juddmonte International, so he takes the eye on his debut. He is one of two representatives in the race for Ralph Beckett whose stable has been in flying form of late, with its newcomers faring especially well.
In October, Beckett had eight winning debutants from 18 representatives at a strike rate of 44.4%, and backing each of those runners to a £1 level stake would have returned a profit of £35.22.
His runners clearly tend to be fit enough and clued-up enough to do themselves justice on debut so Magnetite and Grow Old With Me, a 260,000 guineas son of No Nay Never, are likely to have their supporters.
Elliott big guns are back in action
Down Royal's two-day meeting, coming very early in the core part of the jumps season, isn't one that Willie Mullins tends to target and it is usually dominated by Gordon Elliott who often runs his best horses at the fixture.
As an example, the two-and-a-half mile beginners' chase (15:15) on Friday has been won by Elliott for seven of the last eight years, with the likes of Delta Work, Samcro, Envoi Allen, Mighty Potter and Found A Fifty all using the race as the starting point over fences.
This year the pick of Elliott's three runners is Firefox, a horse who was placed in Grade 1 novice hurdles at the three major spring festivals and is currently ante-post second favourite for the Arkle. Firefox looks like Elliott's best prospect for chasing this season but it may have been difficult to pick between him and Brighterdaysahead had the decision not been made to stick to hurdles with the latter.
Brighterdaysahead also makes her seasonal reappearance at Down Royal on Friday but faces a much stiffer examination in the Grade 3 hurdle (14:05) up against Mullins' Daddy Long Legs who was a wide-margin winner in the same grade at Tipperary four weeks ago.
In theory that performance makes Daddy Long Legs the clear pick at the weights, especially as Brighterdaysahead is burdened with a bigger penalty for her win in a Grade 1 at Aintree last season and only receives 1 lb after her sex allowance is factored in. However, Brighterdaysahead remains with untapped potential and still has the Timeform 'p' to highlight she is expected to improve.
Tip of the Day
Luckie Seven - 13:50 Wetherby
Flags: Horse In Focus, Top-Rated
Bumper winner Luckie Seven belied a 15-month absence to make a winning debut over hurdles at Perth in July, doing so in the style of a good prospect as he wasn't as well positioned or professional as the runner-up but still managed to overhaul her up the run-in. He then took a big step forward on that bare form to defy a penalty back at the same venue, though his inexperience was evident as, having readily hit the front, he idled up the run-in and had to rally to gain the narrow verdict. He is likely to carry on progressing as he gains experience - he still has the Timeform 'p' to show he's a likely improver - and an opening BHA handicap mark of 115 could underplay his ability.
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