Neil Morrice walks you through the front runners for Saturday’s Cumberland Lodge Stakes, Sun Chariot Stakes and includes his best bets from Ascot, Newmarket and Redcar.
Property Raceday Targets
Cumberland Lodge Stakes (Group 3)
With the Arc a mere 24 hours away, FAYLAQ can conjure up memories of his mother 2012 winner Danedream by taking a step up the class ladder. Although beaten over this course and distance in a July, Faylaq returned from a short summer break to romp home in a mile and three furlongs Kempton handicap last week without his jockey having to go for the whip. The way he’s being trained is typical of William Haggas when he senses he has a Group horse in chrysalis, which I strongly believe this colt is.
Sir Michael Stoute’s SEXTANT started off the season with victory in easy conditions here and has risen from his then mark of 89 to 108 courtesy of three subsequent triumphs. Although beaten on his first venture into Pattern company, he bounced back to smoothly land a Lusted race at Chester.
MORANDO has mixed it with the best of them this season and if recreating his eight lengths demolition of Kew Gardens in Chester’s Ormonde Stakes would be home and hosed. He again ran well when second to Technician in the Geoffrey Freer Stakes at Newbury which adds up to make him the clear pick on form.
Northern raider WELLS FARHH GO has won three Group 3 contests and a Listed race, and while his last two efforts have proved disappointing, he remains a potent threat to all given extreme (soft/heavy) conditions.
This trip is probably on the short side for Mark Johnston’s VIVID DIAMOND while the progressive SURREY THUNDER jumps from Listed into Group company following his win at Clairefontaine.
Prediction
1st FAYLAQ
2nd Morando
3rd Sextant
4th Wells Farhh Go
5th Vivid Diamond
Ascot Undercard Best Bets
Race 1: DAKOTA GOLD (1)
Trainer: Michael Dods
Jockey: Connor Beasley
Dods knows how to win this Listed prize, having done so with Intense Romance 12 months ago. To all intents and purposes he seems to have found an equally worthy challenger in DAKOTA GOLD, who after scoring back-to-back victories at York fairly zipped home in the Great St Wilfrid Handicap at Ripon. Latterly the five-year-old only just failed to concede 3lb to Maid In India in a Group 3 at Newbury, so this is a drop in class.
Race 3: RIP ORF (12)
Trainer: David Elsworth
Jockey: Gerald Mosse
You can throw a blanket over the claims of half a dozen of these based on their meetings throughout the season and especially here at Ascot. Who emerges triumphant from the likes of Escobar, Summerghand, Kynren and RIP ORF depends to a large extent on which enjoys the most rub of the green. Taking stock of the way things panned out for him here last month, I hope the course specialist is ridden slightly closer to the pace, as when finishing a neck second to Salute The Soldier a piece of minor interference may have cost him the race.
Kingdom of Bahrain
Sun Chariot Stakes (Group 1)
Connections of LAURENS thought long and hard about whether to run her in the FORET at Longchamp but have plumped for this enticing prospect of bidding to win this race back to back. In 2018 she touched it out to deny Happily in a photo but most judges would concede that Coolmore has a stronger contender this time in HERMOSA who has the accolade of two Classics to her name, the English and Irish 1,000 Guineas.
Laurens ran some good races in defeat before gamely opening her account for this year in the Group 1 Prix Rothschild at Deauville but was behind both HERMOSA and IRIDESSA in the Group 1 Matron Stakes at Leopards Town last month.
VERACIOUS has been afforded a mid summer break since her Falmouth Stakes (Group 1) triumph at the Newmarket July meeting and importantly the level of her homework has been of a high order.
LAVENDER’S BLUE broke her maiden over this course and distance and is highly rated by her trainer, Amanda Perrett. She was impressive winning a Sandown Group 3 on just her fourth career start but now takes a big class jump.
It’s a tangled web that these fillies weave but I fancy the raw jungle power of LAURENS to prove the key. I just prefer her to the fresh and strongly fancied Veracious.
Prediction
1st LAURENS
2nd Veracious
3rd Iridessa
4th Hermosa
5th Lavender’s Blue
Race 2: INDIAN CREAK (1)
Trainer: Mick Channon
Jockey: Tom Marquand
Although having to give away 2lbs to the majority of his foes in this Sales race, INDIAN CREAK has plenty going for him with Hollywoodbets offering an extended Place market. He’d not done much wrong since breaking his maiden at Epsom in July, running well in a hot nursery at Goodwood and latterly finishing strongly at Newbury.
Race 3: MAN OF THE NIGHT (2)
Trainer: Richard Hannon
Jockey: Sean Levey
MAN OF THE NIGHT made a winning start to his career at Newbury before being placed in Listed company at Salisbury. He went close in a better race than this at Newbury and can take full advantage of the class drop back into a novice.
Redcar Best Bet
Race 3: SUMMER SANDS (17)
Trainer: Richard Fahey
Jockey: Barry McHugh
Redcar’s premier race of the season in terms of prize money is a hard puzzle to crack but my spyglass is on SUMMER SANDS following her career best effort to finish third in the Middle Park behind Earthlight. She started 100-1 in that Group 1, a race labelled the best juvenile heat of the season, and if running anywhere near that she will be in a different parish to her rivals and her connections £100,000 the richer.
Race 5: GIVE IT SOME TEDDY (5)
Trainer: Tim Easterby
Jockey: Duran Fentiman
Easterby has enjoyed a bountiful year with his handicappers, and while renowned for his handling of sprinters he can send GIVE IT SOME TEDDY to serve it up to the milers in this valuable heat. The selection loves this track, a point endorsed when he powered home over track and trip last month. It was reward for a few near misses and he’s in the mood to produce further improvement.
