Saturday 16th April 2022

Author: Jordan Yates (EvRacing_)

A warm welcome to this week’s Saturday Preview which comes from Newbury where it’s Spring Trials Weekend. I’ll be starting off with the 1:50 on Saturday which is a Group 3 affair that’s contested over a mile and four furlongs. This is a competitive contest despite only attracting seven runners, of which I’ve taken a chance on Raymond Tusk at 6/1 for Alan King and Martin Harley. He won impressively at Doncaster last month on his return to the level when getting the better of Sir Rumi by the best part of four lengths, on his day he’s a smart operator and if some of these aren’t fully wound up for this he could well take advantage.

It’s more Group 3 action up next at 2:25 with what was formely known as the Fred Darling Stakes. In this affair it’s a horse that I became quite fond of last season that I’ve sided with and that’s Wild Beauty at 11/4 for the all-conquering team of Charlie Appleby, William Buick and Godolphin. She was last seen when running in the Group 1 Fillies’ Mile at Nemarket when finishing fifth behind Inspiral, that was a slightly underwhelming performance, however, on her penultimate outing she claimed Group 1 success of her own when taking the Natalma Stakes in Canada which is some of the best form on offer here. I think there could well be a lot more to come from her this season and if ready to go first time out like a lot of her stablemates have been she’ll be a big player.

We follow the theme of Group 3s at 3:00 as the Greenham Stakes takes centre-stage over seven furlongs. Angel Bleu will be a warm order here under Frankie Dettori, however, I’ve sided with the Richard Fahey trained Perfect Power at 9/4 who Christophe Soumillon makes the trip over for to ride. He had a stellar campaign last summer, which started to take momentum when he won the Group 2 Norfolk Stakes at Royal Ascot. Following that, he went on to win back to back Group 1s, winning the Prix Morny in France before signing off with a win in the Middle Park Stakes at Newmarket. He’s proven that he can go well fresh last term and I think he has to be considered a serious player for this.

Concluding this preview will be the 3:35 which is the Spring Cup, a Class 2 Handicap that’s contested over a straight mile. This is a typically very competitive affair, and this year’s renewal has attracted 17 runners where it’s currently 7/2 the field. I’m giving another chance to Modern News here who’s currently a 6/1 chance for William Buick and Charlie Appleby. He was last seen when finishing seventh in the Lincoln at Doncaster last month, which was a disappointing effort consdidering how well fancied he was for that particular race. Prior to that though he was progressing very nicely last summer, winning three on the spin and returned to the track at Meydan with a fine third-placed effort within Listed company. If resuming said progress here I think he’s got every chance of putting in a bold showing here for a yard that really are firing on all cylinders.