Skip to main content

Cambridgeshire Day at Newmarket

There is something for everyone today with a brilliant renewal of the Cambridgeshire handicap as well as two Group 1 races for the two-year olds for those looking to see future stars. On the jumps front, there is some decent fare at Market Rasen and Goshen makes his return to the track, albeit on the Flat. It certainky whets the appetite for the months ahead. From a betting oint of view, I must admit to finding the Cambridgeshire ridiculously difficult, changing my mind a number of times. I feel the profile of a potential Group horse is the right one, but there may be a few in here and they are well found in the market at this stage. Tempus or Sinjaari could both fit that profile, while Derevo has looked a winner in waiting on a couple of occasions this season. Of those at bigger prices, Good Birthday is well handicapped on his third in the race last year (off an 8lb higher mark) and Anythingtoday is a great eachway bet with conditions to suit, although the silly prices around yesterday are well gone. As you can probably tell, I'm still on the fence and don't feel strongly enough to give a selection. 

I do feel strongly about the Group 1 for colts preceding the Cambridgeshire though as I think Lucky Vega has the best form on offer with his hugely impressive win in the National Stakes. You can ignore his run last time and the return to 6 furlongs is ideal. There promises to be a strong pace and I think he is a very strong favourite. Method has looked full of potential and is the danger but he has it to prove at the top level, while Jessica Harrington's charge has been there and done it.

Over at Ripon, there is a horse that has been in my tracker for a while. Strawberry Rock has been pulled out on a couple of occasions so hopefully he does run today. The price is short but the case is simple. He runs off a mark of 80 and I would be astounded if he isn't at least a 10lb better horse than that. Furthermore, he gets the 3-year-old allowance from his elders and I don't think it will take a lot of winning. 


1pt win Lucky Vega (9/4 General) Newmarket 3.00

2pts win Strawberry Rock (2/1 General) Ripon 4.35

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Cheltenham 2026 Day 2

A good start is half the battle as they say, but it is still very early days in the 2026 Festival. I think Wednesday is probably the toughest day of this year's festival and I don't have the same ante-post positions either. It does get easier (in my opinion) later in the week so I will be threading carefully again on day two.  The importance of being prominent was one of the big clues from day one and I hope all three of my additional selections will be ridden positively.  Twenty-two runners (not a typo!!!!) go to post in the Turners Novices' Hurdle, the Grade 1 that opens the card. I haven't checked the stats, but I know it has been a long time since a Grade 1 novice had that field size. The changes to the festival handicaps have certainly helped add depth to these contests, with plenty of these likely to have been taking that route if the old rule of three qualifying runs applied. There are question marks over the Irish novices after the Supreme, but I feel like the b...
Post a Comment
Read more

Day 1: Cheltenham 2026

The 2026 Cheltenham festival is finally upon us and after months of anticipation, the waiting is almost over. For casual fans reading this, this year's festival looks incredibly competitive and with the added complication of horses running on soft ground all winter and now facing decent ground, caution is advised. That is certainly the way I'll be approaching the opening day, although admittedly a good ante-post book will help too. The opening contest is a prime example of the competitiveness on show in this year's festival. This promises to be one of the races of the week, with many bubbles burst. I've been firmly in the Old Park Star camp since his impressive win at Cheltenham in December (advised at 14/1 on Attheraces) and while there is plenty of potential in this field, I feel he sets a very high standard. His time was good at Cheltenham even if he didn't beat much and he was better again at Haydock, when he quickened off a strong pace. That bodes well for this...
Post a Comment
Read more

13th June

What a performance from Ger Lyons, Colin Keane and of course, Siskin at the Curragh yesterday to take the first Irish classic of the season. Having followed the horse through his two year-old campaign, I deserted him to my own detriment. However, I must say I was delighted for the whole team as it was truly deserved. He did it the hard way too, having to fight for a run but his superior turn of foot at the vital stage of the race was decisive. Moving on to today's action, the best bet of the day comes at Newbury in the 3.35 in the shape of Stormy Antarctic. King of Comedy is certainly the subject of divided opinion and I feel he is quite short in the betting. He could well be too good for this field but Stormy Antarctic looks certain to run his race and is an each way price. Hopefully, there will be no more non-runners and we will have 8 go to post (maybe hold until close to the off). I thought the track rode slightly more testing than the official going yesterday and if a little m...
Post a Comment
Read more