Racing tips: Hypothetical eyes up a fourth C&D win at Meydan on Friday

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Brides Hill was a class apart from the field at Huntingdon. Her main rival unseated her jockey, which made life a lot easier for her after Sacre Coeur blew the race wide open under her usual crazy front-running tactics.

Thedevilscoachman can do one for me. I won't be backing him or getting anywhere near to backing him, to put in that level of performance is embarrassing really, especially finishing last of four with a 12yo in the race.

Glengouly nearly managed to win the Thyestes Chase at Gowran Park under a front running ride from Paul Townend, but he was just outstayed by Rachael Blackmore's horse. It was a nice attempt by my fancy who showed plenty of guts to try and win this from the front in testing conditions and over a trip he wasn't proven over.

Sandown 2:25 – Kotmask 5/1 (1pt)

If there is a horse in this race who could win this by 10L+ then I'd say it would Kotmask and that's without any hesitation, however with this horse comes risks attached which is due to his jumping. Kotmask's jumping hasn't been fluent since moving to fences this year, and we'll know within the first half a mile of whether we're in with a chance as he has made errors early into his races, but if he removes the problems with his jumping I have no doubts he is the best-handicapped horse in this race.

This race is going to be run at a good gallop, with the likes of Mount Tempest, Keep Running and Sir Psycho all being front runners it looks tailor-made for a horse to pick up the pieces when those at the front have taken each other on. Kotmask will stay further, so the likely strong pace and stiff finish of Sandown should compliment his attributes, but also he showed a nice cruising speed when winning a lesser contest at Plumpton by 9L. He handled the sharpness of that track and snuck into contention very quickly, so I don't think he'll be rushed off his feet in this, but a couple of jumping errors could change that.

Gary Moore is still firing in the winners and this horse is running from the bottom of the weights, so I make him a solid bet, but beware of the risks when following this horse.

Meydan 2:05 – Hypothetical 11/2 (1pt, Bet365)

Friday's means Meydan is back. I'm not sure if you're a fan of the Middle East racing, but they have constant Listed or Group races as well as high-tier handicaps, so what's not to like?

I was umming and ahhing over Saleymm, who I think will have a decent career in Dubai, but I ended up on Hypothetical for this race. I really do think Hypothetical has been targeted this race for some time, which wouldn't come as a surprise to those who follow Meydan racing as he won this race in 2022 and was 2nd in the year before, so evidently S Bin Ghadayer likes to use this race for not only Hypothetical, but his others horses too as he has won this race 3x in the last 6 renewals, with Mickael Barzalona winning every time S Bin Ghadayer has managed to claim this race.

From stall 5 I'd like to think Mickael will try and hit the gates as soon as they open and get the lead, and ideally an easy lead. I think riding a prominent race on the dirt around Meydan is such a huge advantage as we've seen for many years, it's very difficult to come from off the pace unless they are going stupid fractions up top. Mickael won this race from the front on this horse in 2022 and won it from the front on Capezzano in 2020, and the same can be applied on Heavy Metal in their 2018 win in this race.

This horse has had a prep run on turf, which is a surface this horse clearly hates as he has only raced on that surface 3x in his career as a 7yo and two of those came in his first three runs for John Gosden, so clearly that run was a run for fitness in preparation for today's race. He hasn't run much in the last two years, and the trainer has many horses in training who could've come to this race, so it's noting that they are sending this horse as their sole representation, which gives confidence he is firing on all cylinders.

Meydan 3:15 – Mouheeb 4/1 (1pt, WilliamHill)

If Mouheeb is fit enough to do himself justice I think he wins this race, as on paper it doesn't look too strong and the main question is whether the ex-American horse, Laurel River, is effective over 6f on a tight track and off a 500+ day layoff.

Mouheeb also has to overcome a big layoff, but his is 307 days, which is just over 200 days less than Laurel River. However, this horse has won fresh twice before and ran well on other occasions from a layoff/debut so there are positives to take coming into this race. The form of his runs looks strong when compared to the horses he is up against today. His win over Tuz has been franked a lot since, that horse is lethal on the front end when getting an uncontested lead and Mouheeb ran him down like he was a far superior horse. The runner-up has won 2x Group 3's since, including last time out which produced an RPR of 119. The time after that win in 2022 this horse has 3rd to Switzerland who won a Group 1 the race prior to that race and was 2nd in a Group 1 the race after, so he was a class horse back then.

It is a bit of a risk going for Mouheeb as he wasn't seen to best effect last year at Meydan with two very poor runs and they didn't race him again, but Michael Costa's horses have been running well at Meydan this Winter which bodes well for a big run today and from Stall 2 he should be able to get a nice follow into the race from the likely front runner who is in box 1.

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