Hi all,
It’s been a quiet week for the service. However, things are going to heat up on Friday and Saturday.
It’s the highlight of Newmarket’s autumn season this weekend with seven group races across the Friday and the Saturday. For older readers the meeting was known as Newmarket’s Cesarewitch Meeting. The meeting has been rebranded as Dubai Future Champions Festival and you can see why. Although the marathon Cesarewitch Handicap is still around and is the highlight for most punters, half of the races over the two days are for the juveniles. The feature race on Friday is the Group 1 bet365 Fillies’ Mile. On Saturday besides the marathon handicap the highlight is the Group 1 Darley Dewhurst Stakes.
It’s the final two days of flat racing at York on Friday & Sunday. It doesn’t seem that long since we were looking forward to the start of the Dante Meeting. Saturday’s big race at York is the normally ultra-competitive Coral Sprint Trophy.
For National Hunt fans the winter jumps season is about to start in earnest. On Friday it’s day one of the Unibet Jump Season Opener at Chepstow. This meeting has now become the unofficial start of the winter jumps season in the UK.
Viewers of ITV are in for a Friday treat with the broadcaster covering no less than ten races live from Newmarket, York, and Chepstow. On Saturday they will be covering the best of the action from Newmarket & York on a seven race programme.
I have a selection at Ayr’s Thursday card.
Ayr
3:00 – Maple Jack improved to win over C&D just 9-days ago. A lightly raced 4-year-old who has had some training issues, but he will take the beating again under his 5lb penalty if in the same form after a quick turnaround.
Woven was a 3 length 2nd of 25 to Dusky Lord in Ayr Silver Cup over C&D last month. He’s a bit of a losing run and a winnable mark but the handicapper has nudged up 1lb for last time and the grounds will be much softer here.
Aberama Gold goes very well over C&D and went close in two handicaps during the summer. He’s dropped down to a good handicap mark but he did finish 3 ½ lengths behind Woven in the Silver Cup and I’m not sure he wants really soft ground.
Pearl Of Qatar a winner over C&D in April, off 4lb higher, was back to her best when a 3 length 2nd of 12 to Maple Jack last time. The fitted visor seemed to revitalize the mare that day and she gets a 7lb pull in the weights today. Entitled to be closer but the winner is open to more improvement.
Black Friday could prove the biggest rival to Maple Jack. He’s 3 wins from 9 runs over C&D including this race in 2020 and he’s 4 from 9 on soft/heavy ground. He’s also proven at this time of year, being 4-8 in October. Granted the 7-year-old hasn’t been at his best since finishing runner-up on his seasonal reappearance in April but there was more encouragement to be gleaned from his 4 ½ length 5th of 12 to Maple Jack last time. He’s now dropped 9lb below last October’s winning mark and the softer the better is chance.
Verdict: Maple Jack is handicapped to go in again but at double figure price Black Friday looks a lively each way contender.
Black Friday – 1pt each way – 10/1 @ Bet365.
Cheers
John