Racing Insights, Friday 10/05/24
Friday is Horses For Courses (H4C) report day at Geegeez and this feature does exactly what you'd expect, as it shows the full course history since 2009 of any horse running that has previously had a run at that track, sorted by number of wins, but this can be changed to any column at your discretion.
As well as today’s race time, course, horse name, jockey and trainer name, there is a breakdown of runs, wins and places, and profit and loss calculations for both win and each way betting. And as with all Geegeez reports, there is a ‘Today’ and a ‘Tomorrow’ (for the next day’s racing) view.
HINT: Layers might like to look towards the lower end of the report, for those with negative performance at the track, but please refer to our User Guide for further information.
My chosen settings for the report...
...have yielded the following qualifiers...
...for me to consider along with our daily list of 'free' racecards...
- 2.05 Chester
- 3.05 Chester
- 5.10 Ascot
- 5.27 Nottingham
- 6.55 Sedgefield
- 7.15 Ripon
The highest-rated of all those races above is the Huxley Stakes, aka the 3.05 Chester, a 9-runner, 4yo+, Group 2 Flat contest over a left-handed 1m2f (+70yds) on good ground...
Hans Andersen, Passenger and Sunchart all won their last races and Israr finished third a fortnight ago. Regal Reality comes here on the longest losing run, but even he won six races ago.
All bar Oviedo raced at Class 1 last time and he now steps up in class as he runs for the first time since being gelded; Mashhoor will be in first-time cheekpieces. Oviedo might also be in need of a run, having been off the track since the Cambridgeshire at the end of September last year.
Fellow returner Royal Rhyme has been off for 202 days, whilst Passenger hasn't been seen since his Group 3 win at Windsor last August. The other half dozen have all raced in the last two to seven weeks with Israr turned back out quickest just a fortnight after coming within a length of landing a Group 3 at Sandown off the back of a 202-day lay-off. (I also covered that race here and my 1-2-3 finished 1-3-2).
All bar Hans Andersen have won over a similar trip to this one, but none of the field have won here at Chester before according to Instant Expert. Mind you only two of them have raced here in a total of three appearances...
Certain Lad and Sunchart look up against it based on past relevant runs and Sunchart has been extensively tried at Class 1 without too many wins of late, even if he did win a Listed race at Naas last time out. That was on heavy ground and this should be too quick for him (he's 2/9 on soft/heavy and heavy and 0/22 on anything better!). Oviedo also looks weak and if we add his record above to the expected rustiness and the step up in class, there's not much going his way here, so that's three runners I'm happy to overlook already.
In a race of this status, I'd expect the place stats from above to have a lot of green about it, so when I see this...
...I'm also switched off about Regal Reality's chances and if we omit him here, I'm left with runners in stalls 3, 4, 5, 6 and 8...
This isn't a handicap, of course, so all runners carry equal weight, which technically makes Israr a pound better off that Royal Rhyme and a full 9lbs better than Hans Andersen. There's an old adage that you need to be drawn low on the ever-turning oval here at Chester, but this week's results suggest that might not necessarily be the case, but the historical data for a race like this says...
...that anywhere in the first five stalls could be considered advantageous, which suits the three highest-rated runners (Israr, Royal Rhyme & Passenger) more than the other two drawn wider, but it's not all about the draw here at Chester. The tactical side of things is really important and the data from those races above suggest that a quick start is needed with those prepared to set the pace faring decidedly better than those who don't...
...as it's all very well getting drawn in stall 1, but if you're not first to the turn, you run the risk of getting 'cut-up' by the faster horses coming from wider. If we then look at how our field might set out, based on their more recent outings...
...I'd say that Mashhoor and Royal Rhyme from my final five were better suited by the pace profile of 1m2f at Chester. Israr is going to have work hard late on, although he did race prominently a fortnight ago and Passenger will have even more to do from the back and I'm concerned about his fitness after the lay-off
Summary
Based on what I've written above, what I've see from racecourses and my own personal opinions/ratings, my three to beat here are (alphabetically) Israr, Passenger and Royal Rhyme.
I think that Passenger is probably the best of three, but might need a run after being off track for so long and he probably won't be suited by the pace of the race. I've no doubts that I'll be backing him to win a Group 2 race 9or better) in the future, but at the current (6.55pm Thursday) odds of 9/4, I think I'll pass on that.
Having had that recent run, Israr shades it for me here today, but his 11/4 odds aren't particularly exciting if truth be told, but it is what it is. As for Royal Rhyme, I suspect/hope he gives the pair of them a real good run for their money and if he drifts much from his 6/1 ticket, then he'd be a real E/W possibility for me. Perhaps front-running Regal Reality might outrun his 14/1 odds and make the frame?
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