We have an action-packed day of solid racing across many racecards. If you have a multiple bet, make sure you either put it in this thread or the main thread.
Diego Ventura 2/1 – Baden Baden 2.50
A strange location for a Saturday bet, but we have a UK representative in the German Group 3.
Diego Ventura has found a nice opportunity to get Group 3 honours on his CV if he enjoys the step up in trip to 10f. His close pedigree would suggest he shouldn't like this, but if you look further into it, there are 3m staying jump horses related to him. The step up in trip is definitely worth a try on the back of his staying on finish over a mile at Goodwood.
He was outpaced last time out, and the form looks solid enough. King Of Cities has since won, and the winner has been running well in good races all season.
Soft ground at Baden Baden will play to Diego Ventura's strengths, so it all boils down to whether he'll stay the trip.
Azada 5/1 – Curragh 3.27
The focus of this race is on the three-year-olds, and that is due to their unexposed profile and reasonably strong form. I think Red Azada deserves to be the favourite on the back of her last effort behind One Look.
Azada put in a career-best performance when finishing second in a Group 3 last time out to Paddy Twomey's current flag bearer. I think that is strong form due to the winner being a bit of a Curragh specialist, so finishing one length behind is definitely solid form in my eyes. Matching that form up against the younger horses rates well. In my opinion, the recent form of Red Letter isn't that strong. The runner-up on her race last time out has since been beaten twice when being favourite.
The Gosden's send over Sand Gazette, and Danny Tudhope comes over for one ride. She won a decent race at York last time out, but once again, I don't really rate the form, despite the third winning a Listed race since.
Lucky Hero 9/4 – Sandown 4.45
David O'Meara's runner in this race caught my attention with Oisin Murphy in the saddle.
Oisin is the man for Saturday racing, and often picks up multiple winners on days like this. His record when riding for David O'Meara is 20% spanning across the training career of O'Meara, and it is 28% in the last five years. That shows significant optimism about the chances of Lucky Hero in this race.
I think the stiffness of Sandown will play to Lucky Hero's strengths that we didn't quite see at Chester last time out. The speedy track of Chester caught him out, and I think the uphill finish will see him in a better light.
Tabletalk 11/8 – Chester 2.40
In reality, this isn't a strong renewal at all. Tabletalk seems to struggle to get his head in front these days, but he has been cutting it against some decent opposition in recent times.
He might need rattling fast ground to be seen to best effect, which he won't get today, but it'll be quick enough for him. Connections have opted for the first time headgear, and that might be enough for him to put his mind in the right place.
Alsakib and others would be of interest if the heavens open, but on the forecasts, that doesn't look like it will happen.
GambleAware