Calyx has just been ruled out of the 2,000 Guineas by his connections, which leaves Frankie Dettori free to take the mount on Advertise in the Newmarket Classic a week on Saturday. While no official word is available, I gather the Italian jockey is likely to be aboard the colt, who chased home Too Darn Hot in the Dewhurst last October.
Dettori is unbeaten in two races on Advertise and they won the Group One Phoenix Stakes in Ireland last summer. Now that Too Darn Hot and Calyx will miss the Guineas, Dettori is free to renew that association. Advertise is a 12-1 shot for the Guineas but I imagine the Dettori factor may help to shorten those odds.
Oisin Murphy, who rode Advertise in the Dewhurst, still has a potential Guineas ride in Kick On. Calyx will run at Ascot on Wednesday, connections having decided the Guineas would be too much to ask for a horse that has been absent since June.
Ascot to show off new sectional times display
Sagaro day at Ascot on Wednesday will see the launch of the track’s new “sectional times” display, first reported in The Guardian last summer. It represents three years of work by Ascot and Longines, one of the course’s official business partners, and will provide a wealth of data to help us all get a better understanding of the action on the track.
Furlong by furlong times will be displayed on screens around the course during the race and will also be fed to Sky Sports Racing, who are expected to use the figures for future broadcasts but may possibly want to use Wednesday as a trial day. After each day’s racing, a mass of data will be published on Ascot’s website, to include for each horse:
Ascot’s officials have clearly had a lot of fun playing around with the data in recent months. As an example of the insights it can offer, they tell me Coronet ran about seven metres further than Magical when beaten a length (approximately three metres) in the fillies and mares race on Champions Day.
The Longines Timing System uses GPS technology and a chip in the saddlecloth of each horse. Connections are not expected to object but, just in case, the requirement for the chip has been written into the entry conditions of Ascot’s races. The fact that the chip is in the saddlecloth means there will be a small discrepancy, up to a fifth of a second, between the official time of the race and the accumulated sectional times of the winner.
Ascot’s staff say they don’t expect the system to be perfect immediately, so we’ll all have to be alert for the possibility of bugs on Wednesday, but it’s very encouraging that such a high-profile track is giving such a big push to data provision and I hope this works well.
Friday’s best bets, by Chris Cook
Flat racing gets its day in the sun at Sandown, before Saturday’s Jumps Finale. The ground is generally pretty testing for your Flat racers at this fixture but not this time, dry weather having made it mostly good to firm, which is part of the reason for supporting Knight To Behold (2.25) in the Gordon Richards.
Leaders can be hard to reel in on fast ground at Sandown, provided they don’t burn themselves out, and it looks like Knight To Behold could get a soft lead from the inside stall here. He’ll need it because Crystal Ocean is a better racehorse but that rival might be chasing shadows if everything falls right for Harry Dunlop’s horse.
Knight To Behold’s three-year-old form has an up and down look but it’s not hard to forgive poor efforts in the Derby and the Irish Derby, or on his final start of a long season. He stuffed Kew Gardens on his reappearance last May and had the French Derby winner behind when making all in a Group Two at Deauville.
Alas, some of the value has been kicked out of his price but 7-1 is still available.
The market does not want to know about Alfaatik (3.00) in the Derby Trial, which is pretty surprising, given that he’s an unbeaten runner from the John Gosden yard that has won this race nine times, including for the last two years. It was pretty impressive that he was able to beat a more fancied stablemate despite terrible greenness on his debut in December and Gosden has a 35% record with first-time blinkers, fitted here.
Of course it’s disconcerting that he’s 8-1 from 9-2 but it’s not hard to see why punters would have doubts. I find those odds tempting.
The improving Sharja Bridge (3.35) is fairly priced at 7-4 for the Bet365 Mile, while Days Of Glory (1.40) is surely too big at 10-1 for his handicap debut at Doncaster.
Perth 1.30 Vision Du Puy 2.05 From Eden 2.40 Count Simon 3.15 Atlanta Ablaze 3.45 Imperial Elysian 4.15 Misfits 4.45 Big Bad Bear 5.15 No Quarter Asked.
Doncaster 1.40 Days Of Glory (nap) 2.15 Valley Of Fire 2.50 Time For Bed 3.25 Dazzling Dan 3.55 Canford Bay 4.25 Bailarico 5.00 Red Allure.
Sandown 1.50 Reeves 2.25 Knight To Behold 3.00 Alfaatik (nb) 3.35 Sharja Bridge 4.05 Good Luck Fox 4.35 Sparkle Roll 5.05 Private Secretary.
Bangor 4.40 Corri Lindo 5.10 Lucky Lover Boy 5.40 Kereman 6.15 Northern Beau 6.50 Arctic Road 7.20 Angel’s Antics 7.50 The Milan Girl.
Chepstow 4.50 Timcoda 5.20 Jatiluwih 5.50 Grey Diamond 6.25 Barton Knoll 7.00 Adherence 7.30 Pink Eyed Pedro 8.00 Delface.
Tips by Chris Cook.