BEST of the BETS

This is usually a good maiden and often throws up some top quality fillies, Izzy Top, Allegretto, Wonderful Tonight, Beautiful Romance, Pilaster, Give It Time are some of the fillies that made their debuts in this race. The favourite Haykal is respected for John Gosden, who has won this race twice in last 10 years but both those winners had the benefit of a run, even Izzy Top only finished 2nd in this on debut. Haykal has plenty of stamina in her pedigree, and I think she will improve over further on whatever she does today, so worth keeping an eye on for next year.

I initially picked Beloved for this, Ed Walker doesn’t have a great record on debut though, before this week he had only 1 debut winner since 2016, but then on Tuesday he had two newcomers win at big prices. And this half-sister to Japanese Derby winner Deep Brillante cost 350k guineas, so she is worth noting.

This race usually goes to those near the top of betting though, 13 of the last 17 runnings have been won by those in first two in betting. And I think it’s interesting that VESELA (7/2) is again strong in betting despite finishing down the field in the maiden at Cambridgeshire meeting. Although Ralph Beckett has a good record first time, the ones he trains for Khalid Abdullah are usually given more time, so I am hoping this will show a lot more today. She has a nice pedigree, her dam Arabesque has been very good at producing winners, 9 individual winners in all including 6 at 2yo, including the stallions Showcasing and Camacho, both those only raced up to 6, but Vesela’s full brother Westerland won a nursery over this c&d (OR 86) so distance isn’t a problem. Beckett has won this race twice from just 10 runners (the only 2 that went off at under 5/1 won, but even his bigger priced ones have run well in this).

My change of mind is perhaps due to lack of confidence in my selections at the moment, so be careful, but it’s a must watch race for future even if you don’t bet in it today. Not only Haykal and Beloved but also other newcomers like Sea Sylph and Rani Of Jhansi are worth watching, I am hoping Vesela can put her experience to good use today.

Selection - small bet on Vesela @ 7/2

Good luck.