Next on the handicap programme during the Epsom Festival is the Investec 'Mile'. I think someone needs a tape measure...
With the preview again, it's Chris Day, @chrisday100.
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Investec Mile
1m114yds (Not really a mile then is it??)
1545 local 0045 AEST
£40,000 Class 2 Handicap
The race which precedes The Oaks is an interesting mile handicap, The Investec Mile, is usually a pointer to The Royal Hunt Cup and top weight and favourite is last year’s winner, Abseil, a horse who never really went on as expected after his victory here but returned with an excellent tird at York and could go very well from just a 7lbs higher mark. I doubt the weight will stop him but the draw might and I remember last year’s race only to well with fast finishers taking their time to get going from wide draws and you have to take him on at around 3-1 given that he was 14-1 last time out. Could win and could be a Group horse but we won’t get rich backing him.
God Willing is next in the weights and betting but I struggle to see how his form really makes that price look value and he’d need to make a big step up to win this and actually is beginning to look exposed.
Saucy Minx won well at Salisbury before finishing just behind God Willing at Goodwood and I think she’s weighted high enough. She does have form at courses which normally relate well to Epsom with victories at Brighton and Goodwood on her Cv so should at least have little difficulty in handling the course.
Regulation may be better known as a hurdler but has won from this kind of mark a couple of times in Ireland and ought to be thereabouts although I’m sure I read that his end of season target is The Cesarewitch. Winning a mile handicap round Epsom would be a most unusual preparation.
Sound Advice may be a six year old but his Thirsk Hunt Cup win was an excellent effort and that track is similarly configured to Epsom although it obviously doesn’t have the downhill run. He could be in the assessor’s grip but I’d give him an each way chance and the shrewd Keith Dalgleish has booked Richard Hughes to do the steering.
Zugzwang may need to find a bit dropped in trip, Gratzie looks to have been aimed at this with a couple of course and distance successes last term but whether either of those races compares to this is questionable, Merry Me would have needed to show a bit more last time to make me want to put him up for this, Mujazif and Lesha don’t appear to be in great form yet and Forceful Appeal is surely an All Weather performer for a locally based trainer having a day out.
Richard Fahey trains Imshivalla and she looks feasibly handicapped without hinting that she’s about to hit form but his other runner, the bottom weight, Obsidian, does interest me at the prices.
He was bought for £15000 by the very shrewd Middleham Racing Partnership out of John Gosden’s yard after he’d run second to King’s Fete who won a good York handicap from a mark of 90 next time and won a possibly hot Thirsk mile maiden from a former Dermot Weld-trained runner making his debut for David O’Meara on his second run for Fahey. All his form indicates that he ought to be mixing it in very good handicap company from a higher mark than 81 and the owners had Llanarmon Lad come flying down the outside from a poor draw in this last year. Well enough drawn to sit just off the pace, he ought to take some catching from bottom weight if his jockey can get the best from him and 16-1 looks a spot of value.
With the preview again, it's Chris Day, @chrisday100.
-------------------------
Investec Mile
1m114yds (Not really a mile then is it??)
1545 local 0045 AEST
£40,000 Class 2 Handicap
The race which precedes The Oaks is an interesting mile handicap, The Investec Mile, is usually a pointer to The Royal Hunt Cup and top weight and favourite is last year’s winner, Abseil, a horse who never really went on as expected after his victory here but returned with an excellent tird at York and could go very well from just a 7lbs higher mark. I doubt the weight will stop him but the draw might and I remember last year’s race only to well with fast finishers taking their time to get going from wide draws and you have to take him on at around 3-1 given that he was 14-1 last time out. Could win and could be a Group horse but we won’t get rich backing him.
God Willing is next in the weights and betting but I struggle to see how his form really makes that price look value and he’d need to make a big step up to win this and actually is beginning to look exposed.
Saucy Minx won well at Salisbury before finishing just behind God Willing at Goodwood and I think she’s weighted high enough. She does have form at courses which normally relate well to Epsom with victories at Brighton and Goodwood on her Cv so should at least have little difficulty in handling the course.
Regulation may be better known as a hurdler but has won from this kind of mark a couple of times in Ireland and ought to be thereabouts although I’m sure I read that his end of season target is The Cesarewitch. Winning a mile handicap round Epsom would be a most unusual preparation.
Sound Advice may be a six year old but his Thirsk Hunt Cup win was an excellent effort and that track is similarly configured to Epsom although it obviously doesn’t have the downhill run. He could be in the assessor’s grip but I’d give him an each way chance and the shrewd Keith Dalgleish has booked Richard Hughes to do the steering.
Zugzwang may need to find a bit dropped in trip, Gratzie looks to have been aimed at this with a couple of course and distance successes last term but whether either of those races compares to this is questionable, Merry Me would have needed to show a bit more last time to make me want to put him up for this, Mujazif and Lesha don’t appear to be in great form yet and Forceful Appeal is surely an All Weather performer for a locally based trainer having a day out.
Richard Fahey trains Imshivalla and she looks feasibly handicapped without hinting that she’s about to hit form but his other runner, the bottom weight, Obsidian, does interest me at the prices.
He was bought for £15000 by the very shrewd Middleham Racing Partnership out of John Gosden’s yard after he’d run second to King’s Fete who won a good York handicap from a mark of 90 next time and won a possibly hot Thirsk mile maiden from a former Dermot Weld-trained runner making his debut for David O’Meara on his second run for Fahey. All his form indicates that he ought to be mixing it in very good handicap company from a higher mark than 81 and the owners had Llanarmon Lad come flying down the outside from a poor draw in this last year. Well enough drawn to sit just off the pace, he ought to take some catching from bottom weight if his jockey can get the best from him and 16-1 looks a spot of value.
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