Saturday’s Racing Tips – Anmaat is ready to rock n’ roll at Haydock

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Vicario ensured it was a profitable day for thread, winning at advised odds of 9/4.

Vicario was well backed throughout the day and went off an even money favourite before the off. It was a nice ride by Oisin Murphy as he tracked the pace in third place before picking up the pieces in the final furlong to win with the minimum of fuss. I was disappointed to not land the double as my other selection Dashing Dick was beaten by a short head on the line. He traveled prominently throughout the read and knuckled down well, but was just outfought by the eventual winner who bounced back to form under jockey Hector Crouch.

Cairnzy's Tips

Anmaat 5/4 – Haydock 3.00

Backing horses as short as 5/4 after a long layoff probably isn't the smartest thing to do, but in this instance I'm happy enough to lay Anmaat as nothing else really stood out to me as a real threat to his chances if showing up on song. Trainer Owen Burrows has already proven this season that he can bring his horses back as fit as a fiddle, producing three winners and three runner up efforts from 12 horses returning from a layoff of at least a year.

My selection hasn't been seen since landing the Group 1 Prix d'Ispahan at Longchamp back in May of 2023, when just getting the better of David Simcock's Light Infantry Man on the line. I was interested to see how Light Infantry Man faired after that contest as he was a horse I was fond of but completely forgot he existed until checking the form of my selection Anmaat. Light Infantry Man continued to run well for David Simcock at Group level, finishing two and a half lengths of Inspiral in third at Deauville in the Group 1 Prix du Haras de Fresnay-le-Buffard Jacques le Marois and also finished runner-up behind Chindit in a Group 3 at Haydock. He's switched hands since, and now runs over in Australia, but hasn't done much in his few outings so far but is still running in high-grade contests.

Anyway. enough blabbering and back to my selection. Anmaat was a previous winner of this contest when winning it back in 2022 under jockey Jim Crowley. He ran out an easy 4L winner on that occassion before going on to contest in more valuable contests in the future. A repeat of that performance or anything of a resemblance would see him tough to beat as I don't see much bothering him in this field if he arrives her fresh and ready to go.

Too quickly touch on the remainder, Regal Reality on his day is a good horse but at the age of 9 he's surely vulnerable to some of these younger horses, and his form this season is a bit underwhelming. Brackens Laugh is interesting at the prices, he's only a three-year-old and still has time on his side with further improvement a possibility. Al Mubhir looks the main danger on the back of a recent victory at Listed level, but he would need to improve again to win this, especially if my selection turns up and is ready to go.

Orbaan 14/1 EW – Ascot 4.30

I tipped Orbaan up at Glorious Goodwood recently, and he traveled like a good thing for the entire race. He was denied a run against the rail under jockey Silvestre De Sousa and he ended up finishing down the field as a result as De Sousa eased him off.

This race looks just as competitive as the Goodwood contest but with less runners in the field which will hopefully stop my selection from running into the same trouble as he did last time out. Orbaan comes here as one of the older horses in the lineup at the age of 9, with David Simcock's Bless Him arriving as the oldest at the age of 10. Orbaan has shown that even at the age of 9 he still holds ability in the old legs, and can make his presence felt at this sort of level.

Orbaan returned to winning ways at Carlisle three starts back, before finishing fourth over the same C&D two weeks later. As already mentioned, I think you can easily forgive Orbaan for his recent performance at Glorious Goodwood. I stand by what I said in my analysis after the race that I think he would have gone close if given a clear passage. He was traveling well on the bridle into the business end and If it wasn't for getting stuck behind a wall of horses I truly believe he would have been bang there. Orbaan arrives here as big as 14/1 with Bet365 and looks worthy of another each-way play into this contest.

Rizzel's Tips

Liberalised 11/1 EW – Newmarket 3.40

I could be completely barking up the wrong tree with going for Liberalised in this race given she was a few lengths behind Mountain Breeze last time out, but I just think there is improvement to come from the Karl Burke filly.

I find it strange that Karl Burke sends Liberalised for this race, as she was lengths behind the Godolphin horse who is in today's race, but the fact they send her back to the same track and over an extra furlongs suggests to me, they think she is much better than what we saw last time out. She was very weak in the market last time out for the Listed event, going off at 28/1. Karl has a good bunch of juveniles this year, so he will know how this filly compares to his best 2-year-olds, and given that she has a mark of 94 and could easily run in the better nurseries at the big festivals to come later in the season, they must be confident she could win this race as if she does, then that handicap mark will blown out of the water and then she's contesting Group races for the foreseeable.

The positive thing is that she has time on her side and she is still extremely unexposed, with just two runs under her belt, you'd like to think that the more runs she has the better she will be as she was green last time out when Danny Tudhope gave her a few taps, she started to wander around, but towards the end again she started to learn on the job and ran on again, which makes me think the extra furlong could be even better for her.

Karl must think that they can reverse the form with the Godolphin horse as they could have easily waited for the York Nunthorpe meeting where they would've had a similar race to go for, or even head to France which Karl has been very successful at. They must think quite highly of her, as I can't imagine connections would want to come back to Newmarket for a similar result, as they'd probably deem that as a huge waste.

Obviously, the O'Brien horse has to be a danger as she is 1/1. The form isn't bulletproof, but she made an encouraging start to her career, I feel like she will be better over further, whether that's this season or next year. She is by Frankel and out of the quality sprint mare Quiet Reflection. Though there is speed in her pedigree from the mare's side, all of the horses she has produced have been middle-distance stayers, so this 7f against a decent field might be too sharp for her.

Al Mubhir w/o Anmaat 2/1 – Haydock 3.00

I think this race is dependent on how much Anmaat has left to give at the age of 6 and on his first start in 439 days. If he turns up in his best form for his reappearance, he'll win this race, but if he's not 100% I think Al Mubhir could beat him.

I think the smart play would be to go for Al Mubhir in the without the favourite market, as nothing else in this race really sticks out like a major threat to the William Haggas horse. The without favourite market is still offering decent value. Anmaat has clearly had issues in his career as he is ridiculously lightly raced for a horse of his age and the ability he has. Since becoming a Class 1 performer back in 2022, he has raced five times, with the last run coming in the Group 1 he won in May last year in France. He must've been plagued with issues as that's a long time to not be on the track for, and even though Owen Burrows is a tremendous trainer and can ready horses off big layoffs, this is a big ask, especially at the age of 6.

Al Mubhir is no spring chicken either, and at the age of five, he has plenty of experience under his belt. Last time out he surprised me a lot. I had a tip in the race he won at Sandown, and I thought he wasn't going to be suited by his first attempt over 10f in nearly two years, but he finished off his race very strongly and on the bare looks of the form it doesn't look particularly great, but I think there's substance. The runner-up was clearly 100% for that Sandown race as he had previously won it the year before, and that was that horse's Gold Cup for the year, as he had shown nowhere near the same level of form since the Sandown race, but he raced one of his career bests to finish in second spot behind Al Mubhir. Al Mubhir was quite keen in the early to mid stages of the race, so given it was his first attempt at the trip in nearly two years, and he was pulling away at the finish, there seems to be more to come from the Haggas horse.

Tom Marquand has favoured the ride on Al Mubhir over the Shadwell second string, Mujtaba, who has some good recent form. Lord North doesn't look like the same horse he was years ago when he landed those big wins at Meydan. Bracken's Laugh will be popular for those wanting to take on the Shadwell favourite as he is a 3-year-old and gets the weight-for-age allowance, but I'm not fully convinced by the form. Certain Lad would be a danger if letting him loose on the front end, but I think the jockeys will be smart enough to know what George Bass will try.

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