Today’s free selection Horse: Principality Race: 17:24 Salisbury Card no.: 3 Trainer: Harry Eustace Morning price: 6.00 |
Soft ground and a Group 3 for the juvenile fillies at SalisburyThere is no festival to anchor the day, so the story is Salisbury, where the IRE-Incentive, It Pays To Buy Irish Dick Poole Fillies' Stakes (16:14) is the only Group race run in Britain or Ireland this afternoon and carries £42,532 of the meeting's £119,882 pot. Eleven two-year-old fillies go six furlongs on ground our records have as soft. The course was reporting good to soft, soft in places this morning with a GoingStick reading of 6.7, so it may have been drying, but nobody should turn up expecting a quick surface. Stalls are on the far side for the sprint distances. The Dick Poole has been at Group 3 level since 2014, having previously been a Listed contest, and it is run over Salisbury's straight six. That track matters. The finish is stiff and rising, and the combination of an uphill run-in with a soft surface tends to punish fillies who have won their maidens on speed alone at flat, sharp courses. What the race asks is whether a juvenile who has been effective in a two-furlong dash of a novice event can sustain a gallop when the ground is holding and the last furlong is against her. Expect the field to fan across the width of the track and for the pace to look honest early and then collapse, with several dropping out inside the final furlong rather than being outsprinted. On days like this the fillies with a bit of size, a forward action and some previous evidence on easy ground are the ones still travelling at the two pole. Richard Hannon has the strongest historical hold on the race, with multiple winners including Anna Nerium, and Richard Hughes rode three of them before he turned to training — a useful reminder that this is a contest where the big southern yards and riders who know the Salisbury climb have long held an edge. The key question is which of the runners has already proved something on soft rather than merely being bred to cope. The rest of the Salisbury cardThe supporting programme is unusually filly-heavy. The British EBF Quidhampton Maiden Fillies' Stakes at 15:39 is a Class 2 maiden worth £20,616, a race that regularly turns up a black-type performer later in the campaign; note that one has come out and eight are now declared. The European Bloodstock News EBF 'Lochsong' Fillies' Handicap at 16:49 is worth the same and is another straight six, where the soft ground and a big field of eleven should reward those ridden with a bit of patience rather than those sent forward from a wide draw. Haydock, Kilbeggan and elsewhereHaydock's seven-race card is the appetiser for Saturday's Sprint Cup meeting and is being run on soft, good to soft in places, with moderate showers forecast, more than 10mm of rain in the forecast overnight and into the day, a westerly wind at around 12mph and a low draw favoured. The feature is the Reprocolor Premier EBF Fillies' Handicap at 16:25, a small but competitive field of seven over 1m2f, in which Hoseki is a short-priced market leader. Seven runners over a mile and a quarter on testing ground at Haydock is a recipe for a muddling tempo and a sprint from three out, which usually favours the horse who settles rather than the one who needs cover. Kilbeggan opens a two-day fixture with eight races, six over hurdles and two bumpers, starting with the first division of a two-mile maiden hurdle at 15:30. Local trainer Ciaran Murphy has been in good order at the track, having landed a treble and a double at the last two meetings there, which is worth keeping in mind on a card of this type. Newcastle, Southwell and Lingfield provide all-weather cover, on Tapeta at the first two and Polytrack at Lingfield, and are unaffected by the weather. Today's selectionOur selection is Principality, trained by Harry Eustace and ridden by Kaiya Fraser, in the Madar Corporation Handicap over a mile at Salisbury at 17:24, priced at 6.0 this morning against a forecast of 7/1. It is an eleven-runner Class C handicap in which Colourband, Boyfriend and Shipbourne head the market, so there is nothing straightforward about it. The mile at Salisbury on soft asks a similar question to the Group 3 earlier: the hill will find out anything that has been hustled along to hold a position, and the winner is likely to be one still on the bridle turning in. Today’s free selectionToday's free selection is Principality (Harry Eustace), number 3 in the 17:24 at Salisbury. Our strongest selection on today's card. The race is the Madar Corporation Handicap (Class C) over 1m on soft ground with 11 runners. Morning price 6.00. Our rated price is 6.79. We have 12 further selections on today's card, reserved for subscribers.
Today’s meetings
| Salisbury | 8 | 13:53–17:55 | | Kilbeggan | 8 | 15:30–19:18 | | Haydock | 7 | 13:30–17:00 | | Southwell | 8 | 16:30–20:10 | | Newcastle | 9 | 13:42–18:15 | | Lingfield | 8 | 15:10–19:00 |
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