Racing tips: Timeless Soul will appreciate the soft ground that Saint-Cloud has to offer

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Educator was poor at Salisbury yesterday. Going from what connections were saying I was expecting a lot more. Whether the time away from the track played into the fact he wasn't match-ready, is a possible argument but he was convincingly beaten by a horse who pulled far too hard and surprised me that he won after taking such a strong pull, so I don't think the form is worth that much. 

Saint-Cloud 12:20

I tipped up CONTINUOUS on the weekend but for whatever reason Aidan O'Brien pulled him out and has decided to send him to France instead. I don't think this is a great race, so I can see why Aidan opted for this route as he probably thought he had the race winner on the weekend so fancied spreading his horses to win more races, but that didn't quite work out as his other runner in the Curragh race was easily beat.

To my eye, this race doesn't seem like a strong race and on the back of just one run Continous has the best form on offer and with a pedigree like his you'd expect him to keep improving with age and more experience.

With the entries he had, including the Curragh race where he normally runs his best middle distance horses for the future, I thought this horse was touted to be one of his best juvenile horses over the middle distance trips, so based on that, he should be winning this race before going on to bigger and better things. He'll have to prove himself on soft ground, as the ground is currently described as ‘Very Soft' and there is further rain forecast so it could get quite messy out there at Saint-Cloud. I'm fairly sure Aidan wouldn't risk him if the ground gets too bad as he should know whether he'll be able to handle it or not, being one of the best trainers the game has ever seen, he should know what will suit.

15/8 isn't the same price that I had for the weekend when he was pitched in at the Curragh, tipped up at odds of 8/1, but this looks a weaker race so I think the odds are fair.

Saint-Cloud 4:10

An interesting runner in France is TIMELESS SOUL of the David O'Meara stable, who rarely send horses to France, so the fact he has done this makes this mare of major interest.

I don't think we've seen the best of this 4yo mare of Night Of Thunder who has been racing on good ground for most of her career, which isn't her cup of tea and now she is back on a testing surface I think she could be a major player. Night Of Thunder is a sire who has produced many soft ground horses and is a horse who liked soft ground in his racing days, so it's not a surprise to see David O'Meara and connections sending her to France where the majority of their racing is done on soft ground.

She has only raced one for David which came at Ayr a couple of weeks ago in a Class 1 Listed contest where she finished midfield and probably ran better than they expected. That run was off the back of a 238-day break and produced an RPR of 95 (ran off 87 but off level weights due to being a Listed race), so ran better than what the Racing Post handicappers were expecting as well. After such a big layoff I think it was a big run, especially on the ground which isn't ideal. The 95 RPR matched her career-best run which came last summer at Goodwood in a Class 2 contest on soft ground when she finished 1L behind Achelois. That horse has since improved from an 86-rated animal to a 102, which includes a Listed win at York this season, so it's fair to say the form is strong. Her only other start on soft ground was a win on her 2nd race start where she battered a novice field by 2.25L, creating an RPR of 89 in the process.

At odds of 8/1 with the maestro, Christophe Soumillon booked I think she is a good EW bet, providing the ground is correct (can often be a mess finding the ground for French racing, many outlets give different readings).

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