Skip to main content

Prix d'Ispahan preview

French racing suffers from small fields in big races too occasionally, only five to go around here, but a classy bunch at least.

William Kedjanyi, @keejayOV, again with the preview.

--------------------

PRIX D´ISPAHAN
Group 1, 1m1f55y
Longchamp 1610 local, 1510 BST
Winner: £110,736

Cirrus Des Aigles: Everybody’s favourite veteran and as good as ever last year, finishing second in the Sheema Classic, and then winning the Ganay, last year’s renewal of this, and the Corornation Cup before disappointing at Ascot in the Champion Stakes. However he atoned with a fine fourth in the Hong Kong Cup and the style of his win in the Ganay over a race fit Al Kazeem was a performance that’s as good as any he’s posted and he should take the beating here although the ground today is far faster.

Galio Chop: Won all but one of his starts last year when fourth in the Belmont Derby (the form of which stands up well to scrutiny), after which he returned in fine style to land the Prix Guillaume d’Ornano in great style. Australian owned, by OTI Racing.

Solow: Has become a new horse since being dropped back to this trip, using a wilting turn of foot to take the Prix Daniel Wildenstein at Longchamp, and after an easy prep, he posted a stunning performance in the Dubai Duty Free when thrashing The Grey Gatsby. Things dropped for him perfectly that day, but the turn of foot he showed was exceptional once again and he should be part of a terrific duel.

Pollyanna: Won the 2013 Daniel Wildenstein in good style before then finishing third in last year’s renewal of this. Solid fourth at Ascot in the Fillies and Mares Event but well beaten in the Ganay last time and doesn’t look likely to land a blow.

Sparkling Mountain: The form of her last four starts stands up well to scrutiny, but even then she has a lot of work to be doing to make an impact in this field with Fate having been left behind by Cirrus Des Aigles in the Ganay here last time, and she’s hard to recommend.

VERDICT: On form this should be a terrific match between the phenomenal 9-year-old Cirrus Des Aigles and the extremely progressive 4-year-old SOLOW. There should not be much separating them today but in a small field on a sound surface Solow’s speed may just win out and he gets the vote on that basis.

Comments

Post a Comment

Thanks for your comments, but if you're a spammer, you've just wasted your time - it won't get posted.

Popular posts from this blog

Spot-fixing - you will never, ever be able to stop it

According to this report , IPL tournaments so far have been rife with spot-fixing - that is fixing minor elements of the game - runs in a single over, number of wides bowled etc. The curious part of that article is that the Income Tax department are supposed to have found these crimes. What idiot would be stupid enough to put down 'big wad of cash handed to me by bookie' as a source of income? Backhanders for sportsmen, particularly in a celebrity- and cricket-obsessed culture like India are not rare. They could come from anything like turning up to open someone's new business (not a sponsor, but a 'friend of a friend' arrangement), to being a guest at some devoted fan's dinner party etc. The opportunities are always there, and there will always be people trying to become friends with players and their entourage - that is human nature. This form of match-fixing (and it's not really fixing a match, just a minor element of it) is very hard to prove, but also, ...
Post a Comment
Read more

lay the field - my favourite racing strategy

Dabbling with laying the field in-running at various prices today, not just one price, but several in the same race. Got several matched in the previous race at Brighton, then this race came along at Nottingham. Such a long straight at Nottingham makes punters often over-react and think the finish line is closer than it actually is. As you can see by the number of bets matched, there was plenty of volatility in this in-play market. It's rare you'll get a complete wipe-out with one horse getting matched at all levels, but it can happen, so don't give yourself too much risk...
33 comments
Read more

BBVA Compass Bowl preview

Just a few more College Bowl games to go to complete the season. Here's another preview by James Jack, @materialista27 . And a reminder that if any previews aren't posted here, you should be able to find them on his dedicated College Bowl site . --------------- BBVA Compass Bowl Saturday January 5th, 12:00 CST (18:00 GMT) Legion Field, Birmingham, Alabama Pittsburgh Panthers vs. Ole Miss Rebels The BBVA Compass Bowl was originally created as the Birmingham Bowl in 2006 and has also been sponsored by Papa John's Pizza in its short history. The Bowl initially had a tie-in with the Conference-USA but they decided to rip that up in 2008 and signed a deal with the Big East and the SEC. It currently matches the 6th team from the Big East with the 9th team from the SEC, however in recent years, it appears to have become the Pittsburgh Bowl as this will be their third straight appearance, splitting the last two with SMU. Should this game follow that trend, Pittsburgh ...
Post a Comment
Read more