Friday, August 22, 2008

Goodwood and Newmarket

In today's races which were rescheduled from York's abandoned meeting, Lush Lashes (evens) won the Oaks, Borderlescott (12/1) the Nunthorpe and Enawin (25/1) the St Leger Yearling Stakes at Newmarket. Over in Berkshire Shaweed (16/1) won the Gimcrack and All The Good (25/1) the Newburgh Heritage Handicap, created as a substitute for the Ebor.

Tomorrow the Lowther (1.25) and the Juddmonte International (3.35) will be staged at Newmarket while Goodwood host the Great Voltigeur (2.10).

I'm sticking with New Approach to win the Juddmonte; drier ground will suit favourite Duke Of Marmalade. Let's hope we see a race to remember.

At Goodwood I'm going to take a chance on Meydan City turning over Patkai in the Voltigeur. Patkai showed an exceptional turn of foot at Royal Ascot but I'm not certain he'll be able to display it on the softer ground he encounters here. Meydan City handles the going and offers value against the odds-on favourite.

In the Windflower March Stakes Luca Cumani's Sandbuch is the top-rated horse and gets the vote, while Raven's Pass deserves a Group 1 and can collect the Celebration Mile. He's likely to start long odds-on and consequently is no betting proposition but if the rain comes there may some value by opposing him with Bankable.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I've switched allegiance. New Approach seemed to be the one for the going at York, if it had not become a sub-aqua event. Newmarket's firmer ground will suit the Duke of Marmalade's style, it seems to me.

GeeDee said...

Good call, Tom! Duke Of Marmalade (4/6f) won his fifth Group 1, holding Phoenix Tower three quarters of a length. New Approach (2/1) was never a threat, finishing two and a half lengths away in third having pulled for his head early in the race.
A bit of a shock in the Voltigeur with 12/1 shot Centennial collecting the spoils. 8/11 favourite Patkai was beaten at the furlong pole while 4/1 second favourite Meydan City didn't appear to stay, weakening two out to finish last of the five.
6/4 favourite Sandbuch was jolly disappointing, losing third place in the shadow of the post. Tungsten Bay (5/2) and Petara Bay (6/1) fought out the finish, Tungsten Bay coming home a half length to the good.
As expected, Raven's Pass (1/2f) deservedly won a Group 1 race, easily holding Bankable (3/1) a length.