Tony McFadden of Timeform provides an overview of the key things to note for Tuesday’s racing.
Three points of interest
Balding bidding to enhance superb Beverley record
It’s more than 200 miles from Andrew Balding’s Kingsclere base in Hampshire to Beverley in Yorkshire, so the trainer is understandably selective with the horses he sends on the long journey north.
Since the start of 2019 Balding has had just shy of 5000 runners in Britain, but only 17 of them have been at Beverley. However, there have been seven winners among them at an excellent strike rate of 41.18%, and backing those runners to £1 level stakes would have produced a profit of £8.52.
Balding has declared one horse at Beverley on Tuesday with Loudan set to contest the opening fillies’ maiden (14:30). Loudan offered some encouragement when fifth on her debut at Bath and also showed some ability when fourth in a warm-looking novice at Newcastle last month. She’ll need to step up on that form but it’s early days for this €300,000 yearling purchase who is a half-sister to the smart Court House.
PJ McDonald, who rode Group 3 winners for the yard at York on Friday and Saturday, has been booked to do the steering. Flora of Bermuda, who landed the Summer Stakes, was one of six winners for the yard on Friday, while Alsakib, who took the Silver Cup, was one of three on Saturday.
Will another course specialist foil Ugo Gregory’s repeat bid?
Ugo Gregory has won four times over Beverley’s seven-and-a-half-furlong course, including twice in the handicap (17:00) that concludes Tuesday’s card.
Ugo Gregory won the race in 2021 and 2023 and looks likely to launch another bold bid as he remains fairly treated (runs off his last winning mark) and should be fully fit now with a couple of runs under his belt, including one at Chester on Saturday.
He’s not the only runner here who goes notably well at Beverley, however, as Park Street won twice at this venue in 2023 and was third behind Ugo Gregory in this event last year.
Park Street hasn’t been seen to best effect on either start over course and distance this year, but he’s shaped as if he’s better than ever and has caught the eye with how well he’s finished his races off. He has the Timeform Horses For Courses Flag to highlight his effectiveness here.
Mullins persevering with Mr Adjudicator
Perennial Irish champion Willie Mullins would have little trouble filling the boxes in his yard so it’s interesting that he’s still persisting with Mr Adjudicator who makes his return from a long layoff in the 17-furlong handicap (19:45) at Killarney’s Flat meeting on Tuesday.
Mr Adjudicator, a Grade 1-winning juvenile hurdler in 2018, hasn’t been seen since finishing down the field in the Christmas Hurdle at Leopardstown in December 2022, and he’d also been very lightly raced in the three years before that. Indeed, since winning a mile-and-a-half handicap on the Flat at the 2019 Galway Festival, Mr Adjudicator has raced only three times, failing to make an impact in those trio of outings in graded company.
However, it’s eye-catching that he’s still with Mullins, who has booked champion jockey Colin Keane, and if Mr Adjudicator retains the bulk of his ability he’s handily weighted as he won a valuable handicap off a 6 lb higher mark when last seen on the Flat five years ago.
Tip of the Day
Porfin – 16:45 Nottingham
Flags: Horse In Focus, Top-Rated
Porfin snapped the losing sequence when landing a classified stakes at Yarmouth last month and he has remained in good heart since, finding only one too strong in handicaps at Wolverhampton the last twice. Porfin finished off best but was unable to reel in a thriving rival on his penultimate start and he also shaped well when upped to seven furlongs last week. Porfin would probably have finished closer to the winner had he been ridden with greater patience and not asked to challenge out wide on the home turn in a race that was run at a strong gallop, but his performance there underlined that he’s still in top form. Dropping back to six furlongs is no issue and he should launch another bold bid off a mark only 1 lb higher.
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