It’s QIPCO 2000 Guineas day at Newmarket on Saturday afternoon and the first Classic of the season will be the feature race on a stellar card from Flat HQ, which takes place in front of the ITV Racing cameras. The terrestrial coverage also comes from Goodwood and Thirsk and our in-house Steve Chambers picks out his best bets across the afternoon…
1:45pm Newmarket – William Hill Extra Place Races Handicap
We start off with a hugely competitive 6f handicap and a plethora of these will be using this as a prep run for some of the big handicaps at Royal Ascot in just over a month and the likes of Summerghand and Rohaan are certainly two to be watched in what is a tough betting heat for punters to try and work out on Saturday afternoon.
While we know what most of these are capable of one that catches the eye is RABAAH for Charlie Hills, who has only had five starts to date. A dual winner on the all-weather, he was last seen finishing a very creditable fifth in a York handicap over 6f and he’s been dropped 1lb to a mark of 96 for this event. He will need to improve from that effort, but there’s significant scope for him to make notable waves in the sprint handicap scene this term and he is the selection.
2:20pm Newmarket – William Hill Suffolk Stakes
Fourth in the Hampton Court Stakes at Royal Ascot on his last start, John & Thady Gosden’s TORITO was not seen in the second part of last season, but he makes his hotly-anticipated return to the track on Saturday in a handicap contest at Newmarket at 2:20pm. The lightly-raced son of Kingman will be looking to use this event as a springboard back into Group company and he could prove to be classy for the rest of his rivals.
A winner at Epsom prior to that Ascot run, Torito shaped like he could be a real top notch performer for the Gosden team and while he will improve for this outing he will be tough to beat. The likes of Dutch Decoy and Liberty Lane have some smart form in the book, but this could be a classic case of ‘A Group horse in a handicap’ and Torito can strike gold.
2:40pm Thirsk – Vickers.Bet Thirsk Hunt Cup Handicap
Northern Express will attempt to retain his Thirsk Hunt Cup crown this weekend and the Michael Dods-trained six-year-old is entitled to be towards the head of the betting, but there could be some much more attractive each-way value further down the betting and one that catches the eye is THUNDER ROAR at the bottom of the weights.
The Tony Coyle & Kaine Wood-trained five-year-old is a real consistent performer and has not been out of the first three in his last six starts, so he’s certainly producing the goods on the track. He has proven form on soft going, so if the rain hits Thirsk then he should have no issues with underfoot conditions and a mark of 83 looks more than feasible and he can make the frame at the very least.
2:55 Newmarket – William Hill Palace House Stakes
Third in the Queen Mary Stakes at Royal Ascot last season, BEAUTIFUL DIAMOND then went on to finish fifth in the Lowther Stakes at York. However, it was her taking win in a Listed contest at Ayr at the end of last season that showed her class and she’s open to more improvement this season and she can kick off her campaign with a win in the Palace House Stakes at Newmarket.
That Ayr win came over five furlongs, which is the trip on Saturday at HQ and having won first time out last season the daughter of Twilight Son can strike this weekend. The likes of Henry Candy’s Twilight Calls and the Charlie Hills-trained Mitbaahy will be huge rivals, but Beautiful Diamond has the potential to be much the best of this bunch and she can score.
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