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Nick Luck’s blog: Wet weather looks good for the Beach

2 years ago
| BY News Team

A bumper weekend of Flat action takes place on Saturday, with no less than four meetings showcased on ITV Racing.

From the William Hill Bronte Cup at York to the 2000 Guineas in Ireland, Nick Luck has a few strong fancies.

HYANNA can get the ITV Racing marathon off to a good start at 6/1 in the Goodwood opener (1.40pm). She’s a little more exposed than one or two of these, but the improvers in here have made their progress on the all-weather, and these are specialist conditions. Hyanna is proven here and on bad ground, is now off a winnable mark and has proven herself in this grade time and again. She goes well for this rider, her yard is in form and she should be better for her reappearance.

MAJESTIC DAWN might be the answer to a very trappy Listed race (2.10pm) at 9/2. He has always been a capable horse, but he looked a revelation in the blinkers (retained here) in the Cambridgeshire, goes fine on very soft ground and – crucially – may be able to dictate matters from the front. Al Zaraqaan looked such an exciting prospect before Newmarket and may not have enjoyed the track, but he is unproven in conditions.

MOLLS MEMORY looks sure to go well in the first TV race at Haydock (1.55pm) at 5/1. She is handicapped to win for starters, but her run at York last week suggested strongly that she was in good form as well, staying on for fifth from a shocking draw with a moderate trip through the race. There were some seriously progressive rivals in front of her that day, and merely a reproduction will not put her too far away at a track where she’s run very well more than once.

VINDOLANDA gets a narrow vote in the two miler (2.25pm) at 12/1. A couple of pounds better off for a tiny margin with Future Investment from Chester last year, the selection is relatively unexposed, has conditions to suit and has no weight here. I like that she is still hovering in the 80s, but has already proven she can hack it against this calibre of opposition. In addition, she is a past winner at Haydock and had a valid excuse for a so-so comeback run.

SEASETT may be the second string on jockey bookings, but can go quite close in the Silver Bowl (3.00pm) at 11/1. This is clearly a much better race than the one that he won at Nottingham a fortnight ago, but he did that in extremely impressive fashion and looked at home in conditions as you might have expected given his pedigree and imposing physique.

MUJBAR is not without risks, but makes some appeal at 9/1 in an intriguing Sandy Lane Stakes (3.35pm). It is too early to be dogmatic, but there is a suspicion that he might be a bit of a soft ground freak, so effective has he looked when the mud is flying. There also has to be every chance that he is a pure sprinter, as a son of the stable’s champion Muhaarar from a family of mainly very fast horses. His romp at Newbury last year proved he was pattern class and I expect him to lay down a fair Commonwealth Cup marker here.

LIBERTY BEACH can win the Temple Stakes (4.10pm) at 15/8. She had a decent enough campaign last year without hitting the heights you might have expected as a two year old, but pleasingly rounded off with a gutsy effort in the Abbaye on very testing ground. Her ability to handle the surface might just give her the edge over Que Amoro, who is useful and rapid, but who is unproven on soft or heavy.

URBAN ARTIST is a sporting shot at 7/1 against the favourite in the William Hill Bronte Cup at York (2.40pm). Again, this is a slightly shallow race for the grade, but the selection remains open to considerable improvement, and will definitely stay and handle conditions well. She is a super genuine mare in excellent hands and has a fair bit more to offer.

ZARGUN is overpriced again at 14/1 in the big William Hill sponsored sprint at York (3.50pm). Ok, I grant you he’s not 125/1, but there was no reason to think his run here at the Dante meeting was fluke – quite simply, nobody knew nor cared enough about his continental form to make him interesting. That 6f race was a better one, however, than the 5f race that most of these contested at the same meeting, and he nearly won it. He’s only up a pound, won’t mind a bucketload more rain and shouldn’t be underestimated.

VAN GOGH might be the play at 11/2 in a completely unpredictable Irish 2000 Guineas (3.20pm). A tough and busy two year old, he rounded off with a very impressive Group One victory in deep mud at Saint Cloud. Given how deplorably his stablemates ran in the Guineas at Newmarket, his own effort wasn’t too bad at all, running on quite nicely from an unpromising position despite paddock reports suggesting that he was in need of the race. As with rival MacSwiney, there’s a possibility that a bold showing could earn him a tilt at the Derby, but he’s good enough to take a hand here first.

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