The Vikings, Mongolians, Mad Irishmen and Legends Blog

What a week!  

Hayley added a third grade 1 win to her CV on Saturday with I'm A Dreamer's win at Arlington in the Beverley D. Stakes last Saturday - a ride which Ryan Moore gave up so that he could ride in Europe last weekend.  That will have been a nice payday with the winning horse receiving almost £279K.

Sweet Girl

Snow Fairy won impressively on Sunday at Deauville.  Despite being short of room about half a furlong from home, she showed true game and grit to get her head in front for the G1 Darley Prix Jean Romanet under Ryan Moore (which will have helped sweeten the disappointment of the night before).

Ireland had a 1-2 on Saturday with Donal Fahy winning and Richie Killoran coming second (44 seconds behind)  in the 1000km/7 day Mongol Derby.  The third placed horse was over an hour behind....

Saturday also heard the familiar voice of Derek 'Tommo' Thompson again at Doncaster after his surgery for cancer.  Unfortunately, he was admitted to Addenbrooks with suspected viral meningitis after feeling unwell that same day but is on the mend once more with the help of antibiotics and more chemo.  

But enough of all that past history stuff....the best of the week is yet to come.  

It’s Ebor week!  

I love this meeting and 2012 is particularly special with the appearance of Frankel.  His performance on Wednesday, when he’ll race for the first time over a mile and quarter will determine whether he goes for the Champion Mile or the Champion Stakes at Ascot in October for what will almost certainly be his final appearance on a racecourse in October.  There's a lot of hyped up debate about whether he'll stay but have you seen the distance that it takes Tom Queally to pull him up each time he’s run?  And as for the argument that other greats have been undone at York (Brigadier Gerard was beaten there), it's a different track these days.  Suffice to say, I'm not worried....just as long as Tom doesn't mess up!

Here’s a TV ad that’s been showing on prime time which is amazing given that horseracing isn’t exactly premier league football in terms of mass popularity!!

Michael J M Murphy will be making an appearance at York on the first day riding when riding Van der Art in the 16:50.  He’s a 7lb claimer to have on your side for sure!  His strike rate over the past fortnight has been phenomenal with 12 winners from 26 rides (on Monday evening at the time of writing).  However, he may not have too many more rides at the Ebor Festival as he’ll be vying for rides against the top jocks here and the handicaps which can use his allowance will be a little thinner on the ground.  Keep your eye on any that he gets though.

Historically Kieren Fallon has had a decent record at York (strike rate around the mid teens but not so hot in 2yo races) and he has plenty of bookings lined up though nothing for the big one, the Juddmonte….yet.  He can certainly pull a great ride out of the bag once in a while (Arlington Million on Afsare last Saturday wasn’t too shabby) but I think age is sadly beginning to catch up these days.  If I was an owner, I would be booking Buick– his riding this season has been much more consistent which I’ll put down to his new found maturity at the grand old age of 24 and he has a very decent strike rate around York.

A good source for some enlightening daily jockey and trainer stats can be found on the Totesport site.

They are the RP ones packaged up in a very reader friendly way and well worth bookmarking!

I’ll be getting excited and blogging and reviewing a couple of races a day over the Ebor meeting and as ever, more daily tips will be up at Speedy Equines.

Monday’s Selections & Review (15 August)

Back to the (mostly) low grade fodder that makes up Monday racing after a pretty exciting weekend.  BUT it’s only two sleeps until the York Ebor Festival....I can’t wait! 

Aiden O’Brien, fresh from his double at Arlington, has spent a few quid in entry fees for his owners with no less than 36 in total.   It will be interesting to see what jockeys Ballydoyle will use (apart from Heffernan, O’Donoghue and O’Brien Jr) with no Ryan Moore available ....apart from Jamie Spencer that is!   Wednesday's O'Brien runners will all be ridden by the stable jockeys

If you missed Jamie and Cape Blanco burning up the turf in the Arlington Million late on Saturday night, you can see it here:

Monday’s selections are:

Kempton

16:00     Echo Ridge (9.6) UP

16:00     Swift Breeze (6.4) UP

16:30     Ssafa (17.5) UP

Thirsk

15:45     Jeu De Vivre (8.2) 2^nd

Not so good today - no winners!!  and a loss of -4


By the way, Ssafa is also the acronym for the Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Families Associations who are having a pretty good fun midnight march on the 02 September in Aldershot to raise ££££s for the charity. 

I could have put up a pretty landscape pic of Echo Ridge in Arizona but have gone for the much more attractive alternative................

Thirsk 15:15 Class 5 0-75 Handicap 3yo+

A mile around Thirsk on good to soft is not all of these runners’ cups of tea – particularly if drawn wide! 

Call of Duty stands out immediately with the plum draw (front runner) and the booking of Paul Hanagan.  The trainer uses her daughter to ride in the main so this booking looks significant.  His last visit here resulted in a 2^nd from the very worst of the outside draw.  He’s probably a little flattered by that though as the first four places were all filled by those with high draws since those drawn low wasted their advantages by being slow away.  Call Of Duty carries an extra 8lbs on his back today but Hanagan (as we know!) is worth that – however I’d be happier if this was a 7f race! 

Kerry’s Requiem is dropping down in class today and just qualifies for this 0-75 race after a string of ‘could do betters’.  Her two best performances this year have been over a mile and she’ll have no trouble with the softer ground.  She seems suited but a sharper track with wins at Goodwood and Windsor so I’ve no concerns on that score.  Julie Burke is a claimer who I rate highly (she lost her claim long since in Ireland so is a lot more experienced than first appears!) and her 5lb will help negate her hefty load.  She ought to get the tow she needs with plenty of front runners drawn close by – so I can see her running a big race.  As always with big fields and her running style, she’ll need some luck.

There are plenty of good horses with poor draws (Elijah Pepper, Thinking, Keys of Cyprus) but I’m going to stick with a low drawn runner and go with Kerry’s Requiem each way.

Kerry’s Requiem  10/1 each way RESULT 3rd