John Ingles provides an overview of the key things to note on Friday.
Three points of interest
Craven result a timely boost for Playwright
Andrew Balding had a double on All-Weather Finals Day at Newcastle last year and it wouldn’t be a surprise to see him at least equal that feat on this year’s card where he has leading contenders for several races. As well as being the most successful trainer since the Finals Day fixture was established in 2014 (eight wins), Balding has won more prize money than any other trainer on the all-weather this winter - more than half a million pounds - and he also has the ‘Hot Trainer’ flag after a fine spell of form, with more winners at the Craven meeting earlier this week to add to a four-timer at his local track, Newbury, last Saturday.
The All-Weather Finals races themselves are handicaps these days, but the card opens with the listed Burradon Stakes (13:15) for three-year-olds over the straight mile which has a first prize greater than that for Wednesday’s Craven Stakes. Balding can get the day off to a perfect start with Royal Playwright who heads the Timeform weight-adjusted ratings and ran with credit last season behind the pair who finished one-two in the Craven, Field of Gold and Wimbledon Hawkeye.
After a ready success on his debut at Salisbury, Royal Playwright then finished just over two lengths in third behind Field of Gold in the Solario Stakes at Sandown before going down by a length and a half to Wimbledon Hawkeye in the Royal Lodge Stakes at Newmarket. Royal Playwright failed to handle heavy ground in the Futurity Trophy at Doncaster on his final start but, out of Juddmonte International winner Arabian Queen, he’s a rangy colt with scope to do better this year and can get his season off to a winning start at a track where his half-brother Spirit Mixer went close in a Northumberland Plate.
Cloud Cover the class act in bid for repeat success
Cloud Cover won the Fillies’ And Mares’ Championships Handicap (14:25) on this card a year ago from a BHA mark of 89 when she was delivered late in a first-time hood, doing well to come from off the pace in a messy race. If James Tate’s mare is to repeat that success this year, she’ll have to defy a mark that’s fully a stone higher now but having improved plenty in the last twelve months or so, the task doesn't look beyond her given that she heads the Timeform weight-adjusted ratings.
Cloud Cover has made into a smart performer and arrives seeking a hat-trick after a couple of wins during the winter. She beat a big field of fillies and mares in a listed race at Deauville in December and then followed up back in a handicap over today’s course-and-distance on Trials Day in January when looking better than ever. Overcoming trouble in running, she was again produced late by Clifford Lee to win under top weight with plenty in hand in the end by a length and a quarter from Callianassa.
That smart effort earned Cloud Cover the ‘Horse In Focus’ flag and it makes her the class act in this year’s race. Only one of her rivals, Aramis Grey, is within 20 lb of her in the handicap, and the 2023 runner-up, who never threatened in this contest last year, could be the one to chase Cloud Cover home this time with more than half of the field out of the weights. Given a breathing operation since her last run, Cloud Cover can win this again.
Old Harrovian’s chances flagged up
Although they are both six-year-olds, neither Old Harrovian nor Glen Buck has many miles on the clock. Glen Buck has won four of just five starts for Roger Varian and is open to further improvement, while Old Harrovian has never had more than four runs a year for Andrew Balding. The pair first met at Southwell in early-January when Glen Buck came out on top by three quarters of a length with a little in hand.
They now re-oppose in the Easter Classic Middle Distance Handicap (16:07) and may well be fighting out the finish again, though with a different outcome on the cards this time. Both have won their only starts since their last meeting, with Glen Buck stepping up to a mile and a half to win back at Southwell in a style which earned him the ‘Horses For Courses’ flag.
As for Old Harrovian, he went to Newcastle’s Trials Day later in January where he hacked up by three and a quarter lengths having had to switch after getting no room two furlongs out but then eased clear when produced to lead in the last half-furlong. It should be close between Glen Buck and Old Harrovian again, but the latter is preferred this time as he’s slightly better off at the weights than at Southwell and heads the Timeform weight-adjusted ratings here. In addition to Balding’s ‘Hot Trainer’ flag, Old Harrovian also has the ‘Jockey Uplift’ flag, with Oisin Murphy back on board for the first time in a while, and he also earned the ‘Sectional Timing’ flag for that last run.
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