Tony McFadden of Timeform provides an overview of the key things to note for Wednesday’s racing.
Three points of interest
Rare ride at Carlisle for James Doyle
It’s Carlisle’s big day of the season on Wednesday with the seven-race card featuring the Cumberland Plate and Carlisle Bell handicaps, plus the listed Eternal Stakes.
The quality of the action and the good prize-money on offer has tempted some high-profile southern-based jockeys to make a rare trip to the Cumbrian course, including James Doyle whose last ride at Carlisle was exactly a decade ago, when he had a winner and two seconds from three mounts on the card.
Doyle, who enjoyed notable success at Royal Ascot last week, heads to Carlisle for just the one ride aboard Jabaara who is 5 lb clear at the head of Timeform’s weight-adjusted ratings in the Eternal Stakes (15:35) following a smooth success at Musselburgh earlier in the month.
Sea The Thunder stands out against older rivals
The Cumberland Plate (15:05) is a fairly valuable race for its level and consequently is usually a competitive affair. This year’s edition has attracted a decent-sized field with 12 set to head to post, but there’s one who stands out on profile and on Timeform’s figures.
Ralph Beckett, who is based outside of Andover in Hampshire, is unsurprisingly an infrequent visitor to Carlisle and has had just five runners at this course since the start of 2020, but he has a couple of runners on Wednesday, including Sea The Thunder in the Cumberland Plate.
Sea The Thunder is the only three-year-old in the line-up and just the fourth horse of that age to contest the Cumberland Plate in the last decade. The other trio failed to win, though the generous weight allowance that three-year-olds receive at this time of year is an advantage, while they often stand out as having more potential than their older rivals.
That’s the case with Sea The Thunder who, as well as being 4 lb clear on ratings, is the only runner with the Timeform ‘p’ to highlight that he’s likely to improve.
Jouncy representing the Frankel family
Frankel’s half-brother Kikkuli ran a cracker to finish runner-up in the Jersey Stakes at Royal Ascot on Saturday, and there’s another representative from the family of the highest-rated horse in Timeform’s history in action on Wednesday.
Jouncy, who contests the six-furlong maiden at Kempton (18:40), is out of Frankel’s half-sister Joyeuse who was a dual listed winner on the track and has produced a couple of smart performers in Maximal and Jubiloso.
It’s still early days for Jouncy but he made a promising start to his career when sixth in a big-field maiden at Newbury last month, looking badly in need of the experience but showing plenty to work with.
That performance earned him the Timeform Horse In Focus Flag, marking him out as one likely to be of interest next time, while he unsurprisingly also has the ‘p’ for likely improver.
Tip of the Day
Dembe – 19:40 Kempton
Flags: Horse In Focus, Sectional Timing, Top-Rated
Dembe is on a losing run of 18 that stretches back to April 2022 but he’s not been with Simon Pearce for long and he has shaped well in second on two of his three starts for the yard. Both of those runner-up efforts came over this course and distance and he ran especially well here a couple of weeks ago when splitting a couple of subsequent winners. Dembe was denied a run over two furlongs out and was again short of room entering the final furlong, but he finished well, clocking a good closing sectional, and was only denied by three-quarters of a length. He looks nicely treated off just a 2 lb higher mark here, especially with the form working out so well, and he’s 5 lb clear at the head of Timeform’s weight-adjusted ratings.
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