Two Shoes For Down Royal

Hi all,

Friday’s racing is fairly low key, but the final declarations for Saturday landed yesterday. With the Derby just a week away, this weekend’s action may lack a standout contest in terms of quality—but it looks competitive across the ITV cards. Field sizes have held up well, especially considering the recent uncertainty around the weather and it’s impact the going.

Going and Weather Updates

I know not everyone factors in the going, but for those of you who do, here’s a quick overview of where things stand at Haydock, York and Chester.

Haydock

As of Thursday morning, the going was good to soft, good in places. There was the chance of a few light showers through Thursday, but otherwise it looks largely dry and settled heading into the weekend. An isolated shower is possible on Saturday, though the forecast leans more towards sunshine and dry skies.

York

Reported as good, good to firm in places on Thursday morning. Like Haydock, a passing shower was expected during the day, but the outlook is again mostly dry and sunny leading up to and including Saturday.

Chester

They’ve caught more rain than the other two tracks, and as of Thursday the going was good to soft, good in places. That said, the forecast mirrors Haydock and York in pointing to a dry and settled spell over the next couple of days.

I’ve got one strong fancy at Chester who would thrive on genuine good to soft, so I’m hoping conditions don’t dry out too much by Saturday. That said, it’s swings and roundabouts—as I’ve also got a few on the radar at Haydock who want quicker ground.

Reading the forecasts, I’m working on the basis that we’ll get good ground—maybe on the quick side—at York and Haydock, and good ground at Chester come Saturday.

Stop Press: It's Friday morning and we've had steady rain in my part of Yorkshire and that wasn't forecast. So maybe you can throw the above into the bin.

Friday Racing

The standout contest in terms of prize money is the Listed His Majesty's Plate (7:08) at Down Royal. I doubt King Charles will be popping over to watch it, but there’s €26,550 on offer to the winner and the race has drawn a solid field of ten.

Since the current version of the race was introduced in 2018, Joseph O’Brien has landed it four times. He’s represented again by Goodie Two Shoes, who won a Gowran Park Listed race 23 days ago. A winning hurdler, she relished the step up to 1m 6f and there’s every chance she’ll stay two miles.

Paddy Twomey, who trained last year’s winner, sends two runners: La Isla Mujeres and Royal Entry.

La Isla Mujeres took a Listed race at Roscommon on just her second start for the yard last summer. Not seen since finishing 5tth of six in a Group 3 at Cork last August. However, the yard has an impressive 4-4 strike rate at Down Royal in the past five years. She’s the pick of Billy Lee and is a danger if her stamina holds.

Royal Entry got off the mark at the eighth attempt when scoring at Cork ten days ago, her second run for Twomey. She’s got a bit to find on the ratings and tends to break slowly, which wouldn’t help here.

Samui a useful dual-purpose horse won a maiden on this card 12 months ago. Proved his stamina for 2m at York last August and is interesting returned to the flat. Capable of going well if getting a decent stamina test.

Good luck with your Friday bets.

John