Hi all,

Whatever your views of ITV’s coverage of horse racing. You can’t fault the level of its offering last weekend. It was on for most of the day on ITV4 on Saturday which for a minority sport is impressive.

Inside today’s main piece you read my thoughts on a fantastic Saturday of racing both side of the Atlantic. Oh and there's on I really fancy at Wolverhampton on Monday evening.

Breeders Cup Tuesday

Aidan O’Brien followed up his “Future Stars Friday” success’s with Meditate & Victoria Road on Saturday with Tuesday landing the Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Turf.  The Oaks winner got the evenly run race that she needed dropped back in trip and appreciated the quick ground at Keeneland.  Ryan Moore gave the filly an optimum ride catching the long time leader In Italian close home. Race favourite Nashwa could only finish fourth. She’s been on the go since April, and this was likely one race too many for the season for her.

Modern Games showed he has few peers over a mile on genuinely quick ground in winning the Breeders’ Cup Mile (Turf). He stays in training next season and on quick ground it will take a smart horse to lower his colours. Kinross was slightly impeded at the start and his wide draw didn’t help but he ran a cracker in third.

Nations Pride was a warm order for the Breeders Cup Turf. However, it was the Charlie Appleby second string Rebel’s Romance who gave the trainer a second successive win in the race. Coming wide in the straight. He headed Stone Age inside the final furlong and went clear for a decisive success and give jockey James Doyle a first Breeders Cup success.  I thought the favourite would have too much pace for his stablemate around Keeneland but the opposite proved to be correct. Rebel’s Romance is now unbeaten on his five starts since returning from Dubai.

Flightline romps to Classic success

The best was kept until last as Flightline proved he’s the best horse in the world with a comfortable success in the Breeders Cup Classic. Stalking the front running Life Is Good the pair had put 10 lengths between themselves and the rest of the field down the far side. Coming into the straight Flightline was asked to put the rest to bed and he did so in a matter of strides. From then it was a procession, and he ran out an 8 ¼ length winner at the line. Life Is Good set very strong fractions in front and apart from Flightline none of the field could live with it.

I thought Frankel was great, but Flightline is off the scale. He comfortably beat a strong field without coming out of second gear. It doesn’t get any better than we saw on Saturday. We had hoped for something special, and we got it. The best performance I have seen from a flat horse in my lifetime without a doubt.

O’Brien and Appleby mop up on turf

Aidan O’Brien and Charlie Appleby mopped up most of the turf races with three winners each.  The latter took his Breeders Cup record to 9 winners from 17 runner and an incredible 53% win strike rate. I said after last year’s Cup that the best strategy was too just follow the Appleby runners at this meeting. Needless to say, I completely forgot this sage advice.

On a side note. It was also good to see Aidan O’Brien back among the winners at the meeting. No jockey rode Keeneland better than Ryan Moore who once again showed he’s the best big race jockey in the world with three wins and three second from just seven rides.

Breeders Cup Verdict:

I have always been a fan of the Breeder Cup, but this year’s meeting was the best ever. The TV coverage stateside is just streets ahead of our offering. Who says you have to have four and five day festival’? The Breeders Cup showed that two days of top class racing are sufficient.

Oh and one question for the racing authorities? Why can they race on FIRM ground stateside and yet here we're afraid of the going description.

Frodon grinds Beer rivals into the ground

Despite two inches of rain last week. It was still good to firm ground for Badger Beers Chase Day at Wincanton. Quick ground doesn’t bother Frodon and he took advantage of some leniency from the handicap to win Wincanton’s big race on Saturday. As ever the 10-year-old got into an excellent jumping rhythm and put his rivals to the sword.

Recent Cheltenham winner Lord Accord showed he remained in good form in finishing runner-up, and he was the only one to give Frodon a race. He was still in with a chance at the last but a mistake there meant he was never going to catch the winner.

Few got into the race although the winner’s stablemate Enrilo was still going well on the heels of the leaders when falling at the water jump.

This will likely prove to be Frodon’s seasonal highlight as he will find it tougher back up in class. However, on quick ground he’s still capable of producing a high class performances.

Al Dancer provides an Aintree tonic

It was great to see the National fences back in action on Saturday. We know the fences are not as formidable as they once were, but they still provide a great spectacle.  Al Dancer ended a two year long losing run to hold of Gesskille to win the Grand Sefton Chase by a nose. The winner really took to the National fences and although he just held on at the finish it was a good performance. The runner-up also ran a cracker.  He came from the rear and if he hadn’t have hung left on the run-in would probably have prevailed.

The winner’s trainer Sam Thomas and owner Dai Walters were involved in a helicopter crash last week so this win will have been some tonic. Although it was also reported yesterday that the latter had returned to intensive card.  

Walters has in the last 25-years elevated the status of Welsh horse racing. It was his vision that turned Europe’s largest open cast mine into Ffos Las racecourse, the first new turf racecourse in Britain in more than 80 years. Sadly, the BHA never really supported the track. This was a shame as there are few fairer tracks in Britain than Ffos Las. We can only wish him well.

Envoi’s back at the top table

The race of the day was at Down Royal where the Grade 1 Ladbrokes Champion Stakes went the way of Envoi Allen. I really fancied the 8-year-old stepped up to 3m and put him up at 7/1 for Victor Value subscribers. Ok, he could have jumped more slickly but I like the way he travelled through the race and there was plenty to like about how much he found after the last to get the better of long-time leader Kemboy.

Odds on favourite Galvin was a disappointing 4^th. He had race fitness on his side but found the ground plenty soft enough and didn’t jump particularly well either. His stablemate Conflated was weak in the betting but ran a good race to finish third. He needed his first run since the Spring and will be sharper next time.

There was plenty to like about Envoi Allen’s success. He enhanced his good autumn record and is now unbeaten on his four starts at Down Royal. Granted it wasn’t a strongly run 3m and he was always likely to be most favoured by a speed test. However, he’s firmly back on track, However, he does need to jump better if he’s to mix it in better company later in the season.

Metier ploughs through the Doncaster mud

The 3-year-old Israr was a warm favourite for the November Handicap at Doncaster. However, he wasn’t in the same form as when winning at the track last month and trailed in a well beaten 12^th of 21.

It was jumps trainer's who came to the fore with the Harry Fry trained Metier holding off the Emmet Mullins trained Teed Up. They got racing early in the straight, so the race turned into real stamina test. The winner a very useful hurdler, unexposed on the flat, loves heavy ground and proved the stronger stayer on the day. The runner-up made his effort from further back and was the only one to make ground from the rear. He could be out next week in the Greatwood Hurdle at Cheltenham a race his trainer won in 2020.

In tomorrow’s column I will complete my look back on a fantastic weekend of action with a few eyecatchers.

Monday Racing

Just the three meetings today. I’m off to Wolverhampton for today’s selection.

Wolverhampton

7:00 – Thapa Vc wins his fair share of races on the all-weather including 3 wins from 4 starts over C&D. He’s now 2lb below his last winning mark and the cheekpieces are applied for the first time. If the headgear has the desired effect, then he won’t be far away.

Thapa Vc – 7/1.

Good luck with your Monday bets.

John