Friday’s Racing Tips – Sue Smith can get her season rolling with Prairie Wolf

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Cairnzy's horse doesn't run till late on Thursday, so we cannot comment on that on this thread at the moment.

Rizzel's tips

Prairie Wolf 10/3 – Wetherby 3.00

If every horse was to turn up to this race match fit then I'd give Midnight River a solid chance, even with him carrying 12 stone, but knowing there will be bigger targets ahead for both of the Skelton horses and the other two needing to prove they're good enough, I thought Prairie Wolf was the one to take out of this race.

Obviously, you cannot discount a Venetia Williams horse, especially at this time of year where they tend to do very well now that the yard is starting to have runners. However, his mark of 132 takes him into unknown territory. Galop De Chasse won a decent handicap at Newbury, beating Kandoo Kid who has since franked the form a fair bit, but the others in behind haven't done much and he has clearly had issues as he ran once last year and we haven't seen him since that Newbury win last November. Genois was an interesting runner as he made a good start to his career with Jonjo & A J O'Neill, finishing third behind Guard Your Dreams, but the thought that none of the stable jockeys are on him suggests today is not the day to be on him.

So with what has been said, I thought Prairie Wolf was the horse to have a play on in this race. Sue Smith has recently joined forces with Joel Parkinson, but you've got to look at Sue Smith's form prior to Joel joining her. She does tend to struggle in the early stages of the new jumps season and her record this season supports that, and her horses generally need a run to find their feet. Prairie Wolf was sent over hurdles over 2m just over two weeks ago, which was never going to suit, but it was clearly a prep run for today's race in mind. With that run under his belt, his fitness should be primed for a great effort in this race, and it's a nice opportunity to get a Class 1 success on his CV, when potentially 2/3 might not be fully revved up.

The form of last year's novice chase season was a decent one. He managed to win three of his six chase starts, with a further two back in third place. The form of those races looks fairly solid, and given he ran a creditable third at the Scottish National meeting at Ayr behind two solid horses, with the runner-up running well in good handicaps since, I think his current rating is definitely workable, especially in a race like today.

Cairnzy was debating whether to put one up, but he also fell on Prarie Wolf, so has decided not to put anything up for today.

Gaming 8/1 EW – Del Mar 11.45

For the first day of the Breeders' Cup it's mostly about the juvenile horses. The races before the Breffers' Cup Juvenile has some races which the UK and Irish are heavily involved in, but the prices aren't great on the horses I like and the races seem to be very competitive. I've opted for one of the dirt, with Bob Baffert's Gaming catching my eye.

There is no doubt that the Godolphin runner, East Avenue, drawn in Stall 1 will be the favourite coming into this race as he is unbeaten and has been impressive on both starts, plus he is in drawn in Stall 1 which is great for his front running style. However, I thought that Gaming has been equally as impressive and will appreciate the extra furlong he runs over today.

Bob Baffert's unbeaten juvenile is 2/2 at the track, and is already a Group 1 winner over 7f when winning by 1.75L, which has since seen the third-placed horse win a Group 1 by 2L, so the form looks solid. Gaming was held up in that race over 7f, but did his best work late on in the race, so I think the extra furlong that he has to tackle today is only going to be a positive for him, which is hardly a surprise given his pedigree.

Gaming is by Game Winner who won this race back in 2018, so it's not a great shock that this lad turns up to this race with a cracking chance. It's a tad surprising that Irad Ortiz Jr is riding him as Bob's usual riders have opted for other horses, that is slightly off-putting, but Irad is a quality jockey in States and has seemingly found a great opportunity to land another Breeders' Cup win to his CV.

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