No winners on Friday, with a potential excuse for Woven, but none for Thickthorn Tom.
I don't think you can say that Thickthorn Tom didn't stay the extra distance; he was just beaten by the better horse. The winner was well-supported in the market, and looked the winner for at least the final three furlongs.
Woven was possibly a tad unlucky to be on the wrong side of the track. There must have been a bias, as the horses who were drawn high dominated the places. The winner was impressive, and it's hard to see Woven making up the ground that the winner won by, even if they were drawn next to each other. But it's so annoying when there's a bias across such a short width of a track.
Kind Of Blue 4/1 – Haydock 3.40
Obviously, the heavy ground will have deterred horses from turning up for this race, but seeing such a small field for a Group 1 sprint is rather disappointing.
The sprinting division is wide open, so you'd expect to see many trainers and owners taking a chance on ground which could easily see an upset created. I tried to look for some big odds for this due to the ground, but even James's Delight, who likes soft ground, didn't appeal to me. In the end, Kind Of Blue was the one that stood out the most.
Since he flew on the sprinting scene by finishing second in this race in 2024, then winning the Group 1 on Champions Day at Ascot, he has been a frustrating character. On his day, he's a Group 1 sprinter in the UK, but he doesn't show it anywhere near as much as he should. I think he is best on slow ground.
His Group 1 win came on soft ground; he's unknown on heavy ground, but he's got to be one of the most likely in this race to handle these conditions.
Gethin 13/8 – Kempton 2.50
There will be a lot of attention for this race due to Constitution Hill making an appearance. In all fairness, I can see why some people would back him, despite not having the flat form. In my opinion, if Gethin stays the trip, he wins.
With it being an unknown about the trip for Gethin, Constitution Hill could easily be a bet. He was impressive on his flat debut at Southwell, and followed up the time after. The form of his wins isn't fantastic, but he looked impressive. In my opinion, he could make into a Listed-quality flat horse, and this is a step too far against Group 1-quality horses, but if the market principles don't stay, he's going to have a shot.
Tornado Alert did run over 12f last time out in Germany, but I don't really rate that form.
Gethin has won at this track earlier in the season and was impressive. He forced Ombudsman to a tough race, which is a good yardstick of how good Gethin is. Ombudsman was giving away weight that day, but you can't deny that Gethin is a very talented horse.
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