DAILY RACING PREVIEW BY ANDY HOLDING
THURSDAY MAY 14
3.08 PERTH
BOLD LIGHT has been largely treading water for the thick end of a year but in mitigation, he has been up against some useful sorts in that period and today provides the kind of respite which hopefully can be seized upon by the son of Leading Light.
For Example, Lucinda Russell and Michael Scudamore’s gelding pitted his wits against the likes of The Dog Thief and Jack Hyde over today’s C&D last time out and although he came up a little short on the day, the speed figure he posted in trying to match motors with classier types had to be commended.
Eight lengths clear of previous Imperial Cup hero, Go Dante, at the Scottish track, he now drops down to Class 4 company for the first time in a while and with the tongue-tie on for the first time, the nine-year-old rates a strong each-way alternative to short-priced favourite, Moyganny Phil.
BOLD LIGHT – 1-point win@7-1
Bold LIGHT – 1-point win@5-4 top three finish
4.05 YORK
Christmas Day was always likely to shorten up in the market once Ryan Moore chose him over stable mate ACTION, but as we’ve have seen many times before, Wayne Lordan is the David Fairclough (Super Sub for those not of a certain vintage) of the weighing room and Aidan O’Brien’s perceived second string is more than capable of providing a turn up for the books.
Whether Ryan was put off with the way the son of Frankel performed at Sandown on his seasonal bow only he has the answers and in any case, it is not as if his chosen mount has done much wrong, with his victory in the Ballysax advertised by many of those beaten going on to win or run well since.
The main reason for suggesting Action is worth chancing stems from his form as a juvenile and there can be no doubt his efforts in the Group 1 Futurity and against Bow Echo in the Royal Lodge can not be bettered by any of today’s rivals.
Whether he can replicate those exploits remains to be seen but hopefully he hasn’t become a bad horse overnight and any rain around certainly won’t harm his prospects.
ACTION – 1-point each-way@5-1
4.40 YORK
SIMPLIFY arrives here in a rich vein of form and Andrew Balding’s filly looks the biggest threat to Manatee Mehmas, who impressed with the way he scored on debut at Doncaster.
To be fair to the daughter of Profitable, she wasn’t too shabby in victory herself at Thirsk last time out and if the speed figure proves any guide, she has probably been slightly underestimated in the market.
Extremely appealing on the eye with the way she glided through that well-run affair at the Yorkshire venue, she beat the useful Schrodinger’s Cat with a bit to spare and considering how unlucky her main rival was at Chester last week, it could well turn the progressive three-year-old sprinter isn’t quite done yet even off her revised mark.
SIMPLIFY – 1-point each-way@7-1
6.20 CLONMEL
Michael Kenneally got a lovely tune out of TEDWORTH at Tramore last time out and with the same crack conditional once again in the saddle, the duo can team up to good effect for the second time.
To the eye, it seemed just a mandatory victory by Michael Barry’s inmate but on closer inspection, his performance takes on a whole new dimension.
Running directly after the useful 120-rated Don’t Tell Jack had won the 2m4f maiden hurdle, the son of Sholokhov ran an almost identical overall time but with his final circuit time slightly better than his more illustrious counterpart, he clearly ran miles beyond a horse rated just 77 at the time.
Even allowing for the slight tweak in his mark to 83, he still looks south of where his true ability lies and likely to be plotted a similar course to what he was 25 days ago, out wide looking for the better ground, the six-year-old can prove there was no fluke about his recent exploits.
TEDWORTH – 1-point each-way@11-2 (five places)