Saturday’s King George has become a straight fight between John Gosden and Aidan O’Brien, as the two trainers account for all eight of the horses entered on Monday afternoon. Enable is favourite to win the Ascot race for an unprecedented third time and will be joined by her stablemate Fanny Logan, a surprise winner of the Hardwicke at Royal Ascot last month.
O’Brien can choose from six possible contenders, including two Derby winners from last year, Anthony Van Dyck and Sovereign. He may hope that Japan can somehow turn around the Eclipse form with Enable, or that Magical can turn the tables on her old rival. Magic Wand and Sir Dragonet are in there as well. With the ground already quick and a dry week in prospect, conditions seem unlikely to suit Sir Dragonet.
We all understand that the best material is concentrated in very few hands but it’s a pity that our most prestigious all-aged Flat race is a two-trainer affair from the five-day stage, with no hope whatever of some other stable punching above their weight.
O’Brien will presumably spend the next three days puzzling over how to get the better of Enable, who might certainly be seen as a bit more vulnerable than usual, given that she has now suffered consecutive defeats for the first time in her career.
Sir Graham Wylie to take a break from racing
It is no great surprise to read that Sir Graham Wylie has decided to take a break from racehorse ownership. There was a time when his colours could be relied upon to show up on jump racing’s biggest day but the software millionaire had just one runner in Britain last season, when Yorkhill started at 25-1 in the Ladbrokes Trophy at Newbury in November and made little impact before falling at the fourth-last.
It’s almost a year since the last winner in his black and beige silks, also Yorkhill at last summer’s Galway festival. He had a couple of other high-class animals running in Ireland, in Bellshill and Voix Du Reve, but has seemed to be winding down for some time.
“I’m very busy with other businesses so it felt the right time to take a break from it all now,” Wylie is quoted as saying in the Racing Post. “We have our charity and we’re involved in some very big businesses that need our attention right now in the current pandemic.
In his busiest season, Wylie owned 343 runners, but that was more than a decade ago, at the height of his association with the trainer Howard Johnson. When Johnson was banned under the sport’s welfare rules, it undoubtedly shook Wylie, who has not had anything like the same number of horses in training since then.
But there have been some very big days just the same, initially through Tidal Bay, who flourished after a late-career switch to Paul Nicholls, winning the Bet365 Gold Cup and a dramatic Lexus Chase in 2012.
It is a pity to see Wylie go. I remember his enthusiasm for the game was so great that he turned up on a freezing cold day at Newcastle in January, when the action on offer was far from exalted, just because it was the first day’s racing in the north for about a month that had beaten the weather. Perhaps absence will make the heart grow fonder.
Monday’s best bets
After Sunday’s heroics, our nap is a more sedate 2-1. I was hoping for a bit better about Iconic Hero (1.10), who didn’t manage to win a point to point in Ireland but nevertheless seems likely to improve on his hurdles form as he goes chasing.
He travelled well past the turn for home at Southwell three weeks ago. Perhaps the step back in trip will help but he should in any case be a deal sharper for that first run since November. The Skelton team are hitting their stride, so I think Iconic Hero can be preferred to Tim Rocco, who had had a couple of runs on the Flat before his recent chasing debut, for which he now carries a penalty.
Olly Murphy is on a low recent strike-rate but Craigmor (2.10) gives him a fair chance in a later handicap hurdle. It’s a year since we’ve seen him but he’s still young and has a fair record fresh. He gets in here just 1lb higher than the mark from which he won over fences at this track last year.
Market Rasen 12.00 Sangha River 12.35 Lleyton 1.10 Iconic Hero (nap) 1.40 Coup De Pinceau 2.10 Craigmor 2.40 Meep Meep 3.10 Ever So Much 3.40 Ultimate Getaway
Ayr 12.45 Mecca’s Hot Steps 1.20 Captain Magnum 1.50 Prissy Missy 2.20 Angels Faces 2.50 Chase The Dollar 3.20 Aliento 3.50 Dreamseller 4.20 Returnofthemac 4.50 Nataleena
Windsor 4.30 Fairy Dust 5.00 Theotherside 5.30 Kodiellen 6.00 Grande Rumore (nb) 6.30 Kettle Hill 7.00 Grandfather Tom 7.30 Hold Fast 8.00 Jen’s Fella 8.30 Caribeno
In Ayr’s opener, the market is getting excited about the Mark Johnston runner, whose reappearance flop can certainly be ignored. But there’s plenty to like about Mecca’s Hot Steps (12.45) at 7-2, with the first-time blinkers and fast ground looking like a good combination.
Grandfather Tom (7.00) has drifted to double figures at Windsor but he ran well in spite of the soft ground at the July meeting 10 days ago and is back to the same mark from which he won here last year.