Saturday 9th October 2021

Cesarewitch Day 2021

Author: Jordan Yates

“A big welcome to this week’s Saturday Preview where we edge closer to the end of the flat season with the Cesarewitch Day taking centre-stage at Newmarket.

A quick look back at Friday’s action and it was actually a decent day at Newmarket for once for The Punts, with Twilight Jet getting the job done in the Cornwallis Stakes and the afternoon’s NAP Inspiral impressively taking out the Fillies’ Mile. Chindit and Perfect News were the other two picks who both placed. 

I’ll be sharing my thoughts on three races from Newmarket as well as one from York for Saturday, so as ever, enjoy!”

– Jordan

The first race I’ll be taking a look at is up at York and is the 2:02 which is the Rockingham Stakes which is a Listed event over six furlongs. The one I’ve sided with here is the Richard Hannon trained Witch Hunter who’s currently around a 7/1 chance under Dane O’Neil. This two-year-old son on Siyouni is still a maiden having finished second and third on his only two outings to date, however, he has ran with a lot of promise in both starts. He didn’t get much luck the last day when third at Salisbury and many thought he should’ve won, he’ll need to take another step forward from that run here but I think he could well be a pattern horse in the future and has every chance of going well in this assignment.

The next race I’ll be looking at is the 2:20 at Newmarket which is the Autumn Stakes that’s a Group 3 event that’s contested over a mile. I think this is all about Coroebus for the all-conquering duo of William Buick and Charlie Appleby. He powered clear last time here in the Royal Lodge before running out of petrol close home and getting caught by Royal Patronage, however, whilst some might slam him for such a run, I think it was still a fantastic effort on what was only his second career start against a much more battle hardened winner. That was a Group 2 and if his jockey waits a little longer on this occasion before pushing the “go” switch he could take a lot of catching, as I think he’s a very exciting prospect. If you want one as an each-way alternative, I’d give a favourable mention to United Nations who’s currently around the 8/1 mark for O’Brien and Moore. It’s quite rare for a Ballydoyle horse to win first time out, yet this Galileo colt did just that when winning well at Naas last month. Typically the yard’s runners improve markedly after their first run so this lad could have a big say here.

Staying at Newmarket and it’s Group 1 action up next at 2:55 where the Dewhurst Stakes takes centre-stage. Similar to the previous race I find it hard to get away from the boys in blue here as I think the impressive Native Trail is going to be very hard to beat if anywhere near the form he’s shown so far. He won on the July course here when landing the Group 2 Superlative Stakes and then returned from a break when posting his most impressive display to date when claiming Group 1 honours in Ireland by lowering the colours of the very smart Point Lonsdale in the National Stakes. That’s the best form in the race here by a country mile and he’d have to severely under perform if any of this lot are going to get anywhere near him on the back of that effort. His main rival looks to be Bayside Boy who upset Reach For The Moon at Doncaster last time in the Champagne Stakes, and the unbeaten Irish challenger Straight Answer would also be another one to note for Ger Lyons and Colin Keane.

Concluding this week’s preview will be the feature race off the afternoon at 3:35 which is the Cesarewitch Handicap over two miles and two furlongs. I often moan about how hard is it find winners in these big Heritage Handicaps but I’ve had a bit of luck in them recently with Bielsa winning the Ayr Gold Cup and Anmaat finishing second in the Cambridgeshire here the other week after I’d put him up in the preview at a double-figure price. So, I’m going to go into this race with the utmost positivity… over the years this contest has often seen the market dominated by National Hunt trainers and this years renewal is no exception with Willie Mullins, Nicky Henderson and Paul Nicholls all sending runners. It’s a Henderson runner I’ve come down on as my fancy as well and that’s Buzz who’s a 7/1 chance and is the mount of Oisin Murphy (or at least he is for now). This seven-year-old hasn’t been seen since since finishing second in a Grade 1 Hurdle at Aintree back in April which suggests that a crack at this has been the plan for some time. Before going over the sticks with Seven Barrows he was actually a decent performer on the level for Hughie Morrison and was competitive off higher marks than what he’ll race off here, therefore, and with the distance also being no issue on the basis of his hurdles form, I think he has a great chance.