Breather before Royal Ascot

Wednesday 10 June qualifiers from the Top 20:

2.00 Beverley, Maidtorun
3.00 Beverley, Addison de Witt
4.20 Brighton, Hand Painted
4.20 Brighton, Pipers Piping
4.50 Brighton, Ask Jenny
4.50 Brighton, Thoughtsofstardom
6.20 Kempton, Agilete
6.20 Kempton, Teen Ager
7.20 Kempton, Macs Power
8.20 Kempton, Kipchak


PERFORMANCE RATINGS

Ballyogan Stakes – Lesson In Humility 67
Diomed Stakes – Mac Love 70
Heritage Handicap (Rose Bowl) – Seeking The Buck 62
Coronation Cup – Ask 83
Oaks Stakes – Sariska 80
Heritage Handicap (3yo) – River Captain 62
Princess Elizabeth Stakes – Eva’s Request 71
“Dash” Stakes – Indian Trail 62
Derby Stakes – Sea The Stars 89

It was good to see two above-par winners of the British Oaks trials from Lingfield and York fight out the finish at Epsom, considering the Derby was dominated by the Irish.
I was also relieved to see the top three draws in the “Dash” not falling to the three highest as I was contemplating an adventurous plot to land the Tote Trifecta. When stall 18 came up first I was sweating!

A similar ploy would’ve come up trumps at Folkestone on Monday, though, where the stands’ rail has been an advantage for a few seasons now. The 5f sprint handicap fell to the three lowest stalls in 1, 2 and 3 for a nice Tote Trifecta payout of £297.40 – keep a lookout for any other sprints here during the summer.

A little snippet I thought I’d pass on is that during some form study over the weekend I noticed that Siren’s Gift may have a preference for racing in events with a smallish number of runners (I was going to originally state ‘small fields’ but didn’t want to confuse anyone thinking of small field/track!)

This talented mare has been a public horse of late, including when tipped by Pricewise – does anyone get the recommended prices of that column anymore by the way? – and has been sent off favourite on three of her last four races.

My take is that she is still well handicapped and could pick up a sprint handicap on fast ground in a race with around 12 runners or less. Her form figures in races with 13 runners or more are: 00030030300, including all three outings this season.


TOP OF THE FORM

This week is already panning out like the two previous ones with a stream of placed runners – I hope some of you are backing these form runners each-way!

I’m confident of the current Top 20, which should be the case through to around late-September when the season winds down. A normal week would see races given a form rating of +4 make the base of the chart, but there are plenty queuing up at numbers 21 downwards. These include several newcomers, so I’ve listed them below for you to do some digging.

New races with +4, +3, +2 ratings:

26 May Leicester, 6f claiming stakes won by Chocolicious –
2 wins from 4 runs (+4)

9 May Hexham, 2m4f novices’ hurdle won by Moonwalking –
2 wins from 5 runs (+4)

15 May Hamilton, 1m1f maiden stakes won by Hillview Boy –
3 wins from 9 runs (+3)

7 May Goodwood, 1m handicap won Charlotte Point –
3 wins from 7 runs (+2)

15 May York, 1m4f handicap won by Antigua Sunrise –
2 wins from 6 runs (+2)

16 May Newmarket, 7f handicap won by Oceana Blue –
4 wins from 11 runs (+2)

Other form races – the majority didn’t make the chart as the top half of the field have already reappeared since.

21 April Kempton, 1m4f handicap won by Hendersyde –
3 wins from 6 runs

8 May Aintree, Handicap Hurdle won by Giovanna –
3 wins from 7 runs

9 May Ascot, 5f maiden won by Little Perisher –
2 wins from 5 runs

12 May Warwick, 1m handicap won by Gaily Noble –
2 wins from 6 runs

16 May Newbury, 7f Newbury won by Prince Of Dance –
2 wins from 5 runs

20 May Lingfield, 1m3f maiden won by Akmal –
2 wins from 4 runs

23 May Catterick, 6f handicap won by Johannes –
3 wins from 9 runs

Last week’s nap, Sweet Lightning, was a non-runner at Epsom, leaving yours truly in desperate need of a winner this week to lift me up the RFO naps table.
I’ve opted for Oriental Cavalier again, who let me down on heavy ground at Haydock last month, but deserves another chance on better ground at Chester – a track that will suit his prominent style.

No doubt you will have noticed that I’ve been updating the main weekly blog each day with the TOTF qualifiers at the bottom of the page. To save scrolling down each day, though, I’ll leave them at the top of the page to save searching – aren’t I thoughtful!