Trials And Tribulations At Lingfield

ALL VIEWS ARE MY OWN

My first article following a spectacular weekend for Godolphin, what odds could we have got earlier in the year that they would land the Kentucky Oaks and Derby double alongside the 1000 and 2000 Guineas – spectacular stuff for the boys in blue. If you were on favourite Fields Of Gold for the Newmarket colts classic you may be on of a long list of armchair jockeys who blamed Kieran Shoemark for losing the race, but after watching it again, it was just a (very) slight error of judgement. Clearly ridden to find plenty of cover, presumably as instructed, he may have taken longer to get into top great than his envisaged, flying at the death to finish second. I cannot call that a bad ride by any stretch of the imagination, but the public (via social media) have torn him limb from limb to the extent that he may lose the ride for his next assignment, where I am confident he would not make the same error a second time.    

Elsewhere the big news (not that big really) was the change of training licence from Peter Bowen to his son Mikey, though the reality is we are talking about a paperwork exercise for now. The 66 year-old Peter insists everything will carry on as before so that means plenty of winners (Mikey had his first at Ffos Las on Tuesday) and it feels like it is the current fashion to change trainer names – just to confuse me when I am looking through past statistics.

Lastly whether you or don’t believe in global warming, it is affecting our racing, with the distinct possibility that Lingfield will be forced to switch their Derby and Oaks trials to the all-weather, thanks to a no watering request from the Environment Agency for the whole of April. The taps have now been turned on, but you cannot simply flood the track and keep the racing surface safe for the participants, and it is a round the clock job and a race against time.  I maybe one of the bigger fans of all-weather racing to be fiar, but even I can see that a classic trial belongs on turf – just like the actual race!

On to the racing this weekend…

Saturday

1.15pm Lingfield

A disappointing turnout for the Oaks trial with a maximum of three runners, possibly because of fears over the ground, but that should not stop Aidan O’Brien striking with Giselle, a winner at the Curragh before finishing third in the Group Three Staffordstown Stud Stakes. As a daughter of Frankel, the better ground here should see her to better effect, but she does sport a first-time hood, and in a small field that could get tactical, I will be watching and not taking any of the odds on freely available!

3.00pm Lingfield

I think we have more chance of being struck by lightning than seeing the Epsom Derby winner in action here, but it is what it is, and something has to win. Puppet Master heads the betting for Aidan O’Brien and Ryan Moore but he doesn’t exactly look bullet-proof after his Leopardstown fourth, and there may be better each way value elsewhere. Nightime Dancer only won a Class Two on the all-weather last time out for Richard Hannon but he did so with authority, and at least we know he stays this far as that race was over a mile and a half. 12/1 looks good value to me for a top three finish as he was value for more that the official margin having come from way off the pace, and with Sean Levey in the saddle we should get a good run for our money – hopefully a winning one.   

3.35pm Lingfield

Three-year-olds may not have the best record in this race but they did win it last year with Great Generation and hopefully they can do so again courtesy of Ralph Beckett’s Cathedral. A debut winner here at Lingfield on the all-weather, she followed that with a second to Merrily in the Group Three Oh So Sharp Stakes at Newmarket, with the front two close to three lengths clear of the rest. Kept to the same trip, and immediately put in against her elders, she is officially rated 1lb shy of Jabaara and Spiritual, but gets 12lb from them both thanks to her age, and that ought to be more than enough to see her get back to winning ways.

3.55pm Haydock

Another race where I am happy to take a risk (to smaller stakes) when Andrew Badling brings Array back to the track after his third at Thirk on his first start since the 2000 Guineas of 2024. My theory is that he will have badly needed that start after such a long break, and if that is the case, he has a chance to recapture his best form, that includes a win in the Group Two Mill Reef Stakes at Newbury as a juvenile. That form looks top class to me, and although only seventh in the 2000 Guineas, that is a Group One – and this is a Listed race. Available at 12/1 as I write that is just too tempting to resist, though I admit I would be happier if we had eight runners and got paid out for the first three home -  but sadly we don’t have that luxury here.

Sean’s Suggestion:

Cathedral 3.15pm Lingfield Saturday