Saturday 28th August 2021

Author: Jordan Yates

“A big welcome to this week’s Saturday Preview where I’ll be sharing my thoughts on the three group races from Goodwood including the feature race of the day which is the Celebration Mile. I’ll also be taking a look at one race from Newmarket which comes in the form of the Listed Hopeful Stakes.

Looking back at the last preview on the site, it was the final day of the Ebor Festival last Saturday and we managed to successfully tip the winner of the Ebor itself, with Sonnyboyliston doing the business at 10/1. Space Blues was another success on the day for the blog as he took Group 2 honours. Throughout the week that was, we had a few punts up on the Facebook Story, several of them didn’t run their race however Woodlands Charm went in at Catterick on Wednesday at 5/2.

As ever though, enjoy the preview!”

Jordan

The first race I’ll be looking at is the 1:50 at Goodwood which is the Group 3 Prestige Stakes over seven furlongs. Daneh is the current favourite who sets a solid enough standard on her third placed effort behind Oscula within Group 3 company in France, and she remains very much unexposed. It’s a more exposed type I’m going to be siding with here though and that’s Hello You for David Loughnane and Rossa Ryan. I’ve put her up several times throughout the season after seeing her debut win at Wolverhampton, and despite not getting her head in front since then she has run some solid efforts in defeat. She was placed in both of the Group 3 Albany Stakes at Ascot and then in the Group 2 Duchess Of Cambridge Stakes at Newmarket, before finishing fifth the Lowther at York where she travelled well before not getting the clearest of runs. She’s got the best form on offer here for me and if getting a bit of luck has a big chance of making her presence felt. If you want one at an each-way price I wouldn’t put you off Value Theory for Mark Johnston, she has a nice future ahead of her and Mark does well at this track.

Staying in time order I’m moving over to Newmarket now for their 2:45 which is the Listed Hopeful Stakes over six furlongs on the July course. Tabdeed is the warm favourite here and is currently trading at about 7/4. He’s a horse that I’ve been a fan of for some time and despite clearly having his issues has more than enough talent to be winning this. He is however, a bit short, so I’ve gone for an each-way alternative in the form of Royal Scimitar for Clive Cox and Neil Allan. I think this is a smart three-year-old, if you watch his race back the last day at Ascot he completely blew the start giving the rest of the field about 6 lengths, yet still ran a cracker to finish third. There’s clearly a lot more to come from him and he resides in a yard that does exceptionally well with his type. 

The next race I’ll be sharing my thoughts on comes in the form of the Group 3 March Stakes which takes place at 3:00 at Goodwood. Contested over a distance of a mile and six furlongs I think this is all about Nagano for Roger Varian and David Egan. He’s currently trading at around even money and arrives here off the back of a win within handicap company at the Festival last month. It was a very taking display that day as he made up a lot of ground to win impressively, giving the impression that he’s very much a group horse in the making. I think he could well prove even better than this level as well and will take a lot of beating here. His main danger looks to be the Mark Johnston trained Dancing King.

The concluding race of the preview comes at 3:35 and is the feature race of the day at Goodwood which is the Celebration Mile. A Group 2 event that’s obviously contested over a mile, it sees the globe trotting Benbatl return to the track for Saeed Bin Suroor. He’s not been seen since September 2020 when he was a length behind Kameko in a Newmarket Group 2, but he’s reunited with old friend Oisin Murphy and will be a popular pick with punters. I’ve taken him on though and I’ve done that with an old friend of mine in Chindit for Richard Hannon and Pat Dobbs. I’ve always been a big fan of this horse and he’s been tried in some very tough contests this season, with his last three runs all coming within Group 1 company. He’s finished fifth in each of them, the 2,000 Guineas, St James’s Palace Stakes and the Jacques le Marois and wasn’t disgraced in any. This ease in grade should be a massive help to him and I think he’s a big chance of returning to the winners enclosure again.

That’s it for this week though, hopefully they’ll all give you a run if you’re following. See you at the next one!