John Ingles of Timeform provides an overview of the key things to note for Thursday’s racing.
Three points of interest
Shadow of Light Buick’s choice of well-bred Godolphin newcomers
Charlie Appleby introduces a couple of two-year-olds on Thursday who very much the take the eye on breeding but they make their debuts at different meetings. It looks significant, therefore, that William Buick has opted for the Yarmouth (3.00) newcomer Shadow of Light, leaving Rossa Ryan to pick up the ride on Olympus Point who makes his debut at Haydock.
Appleby also runs Caballo Bay, who is a winner already at Wolverhampton, in the Haydock novice but unraced stablemate Olympus Point looks the more interesting of the Godolphin pair. Among the 260,000 guineas yearling’s siblings are the same connections’ top-class sprinter Blue Point who won the King’s Stand under Buick in 2018 before famously winning the same race as well as the Diamond Jubilee Stakes at Royal Ascot a year later when partnered by James Doyle.
Olympus Point is by Earthlight, and it’s that first-season sire’s close relative, Shadow of Light, who makes his debut in the maiden at Yarmouth. He’s by Lope de Vega, a son of Earthlight’s sire Shamardal. Earthlight enjoyed an unbeaten five-race campaign at two for Andre Fabre that included wins in the Prix Morny and Middle Park Stakes and he has already had some fairly useful winners among his first crop of two-year-olds. Appleby has a 33% strike rate (6 winners from 18 runners) with his two-year-old newcomers at Yarmouth since the start of 2019, including Age of Gold who was impressive there in May.
More success for the Bowen family at Perth?
Sean Bowen might have had to settle for second place behind Harry Cobden in last season’s jockeys’ championship but despite the injury which dented his title hopes he enjoyed his best-ever season. The track where he had more success than any other in 2023/24 was Perth where he rode 17 winners from 60 rides for a strike rate of 28%. Five of those wins came at the track’s festival in April when Bowen was all out to close the gap on Cobden in the final days of the season.
Bowen has already notched a couple of wins at the Scottish track this season on useful chaser Statuario, trained by father Peter and brother Mickey. He has six rides on Perth’s Thursday card and once again it looks as though his family’s yard, which is in fine form at present, could provide him with his best chance of making the long trip north worthwhile.
The mare Dicey Rielly heads the Timeform weight-adjusted ratings by 2 lb in the two and a half mile handicap chase (3.18) and makes plenty of appeal from just a couple of pounds above her last winning mark. She was successful three times last summer, winning over both hurdles and fences, and returned to form at Fontwell last time when third behind Village Master, though might have won had she not tended to jump right throughout.
Rare Saffie Osborne ride for red-hot Haggas stable
After sending out ten winners in the space of four days between last Wednesday and Saturday, which included Montassib winning the Chipchase Stakes at Newcastle, William Haggas rounded off a memorable week with a Group 1 victory in France on Sunday when Dubai Honour landed the Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud.
Haggas has runners at three meetings on Thursday, with filly Hey Big Spender (9.00) being the trainer’s sole runner on Newbury’s evening card, a track where only Richard Hannon has had more winners than Haggas in the last five seasons. Hey Big Spender goes in the mile handicap for three-year-olds in the colours of local owner Lord Lloyd Webber. Contesting only her second handicap, she looks capable of exploiting a BHA mark of just 57 which gets her into this race receiving at least 6 lb from all her rivals.
The daughter of Lope de Vega was still a bit rough around the edges but ran her best race when blinkered for her handicap debut at Leicester last month despite meeting more than her fair share of trouble. Having stumbled over a furlong out and then been short of room inside the last, she kept on for fourth behind Salamanca Lad and looks set to improve on that, with a ‘p’ on her Timeform rating. Hey Big Spender’s jockey Saffie Osborne is a rare booking for the stable, having only ridden twice for Haggas before.
Tip of the Day
Tiriac – 15:40 Haydock
Flags: Horse In Focus, Hot Trainer
TIRIAC is a sprint handicapper on the up for Jack Channon whose string is in good form in general. With cheekpieces back on, the four-year-old got off the mark for the season under testing conditions at Windsor in May and then followed up at York on good ground later in the month when coming off a strong pace to beat Holkham Bay by a short head in a big field.
The same pair met again over the same course and distance last month, and while Holkham Bay came out on top this time, Tiriac shaped well just over a length behind him in third.
Tiriac was off a 5 lb higher mark last time but gave the impression the handicapper hasn’t caught up with him just yet as he was forced to switch over a furlong out, conceding first run to the pair who beat him, before finishing well. He can resume winning ways in this less competitive race.
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