With a lack of time to do both threads, I asked Cairnzy to cover. He had a strong opinion on one race at the Curragh, so he is doing the main thread on Sunday.
Raaheeb 9/4 – Curragh 4.35
I’ll be honest, I came very close to siding with current market favourite Benvenuto Cellini in this race. I backed him as a single last time out in a high street bookmaker and watched the race live. My betting slip was in the bin before the race had even finished, and I was out the door with my tail between my legs.
It wasn’t until later that evening that I saw on social media that Benvenuto Cellini had been declared a non-runner following an incident in the stalls before the start. Watching it back, the whole situation looked a bit of a farce to me, but I certainly wasn’t complaining when I headed back to the shop the next day to collect my refund.
While the incident may have contributed to a slightly slow start, Benvenuto Cellini never looked comfortable on the testing ground and was never likely to win, even with a clean break. Officially, the ground was described as slow, but visually, it looked much more demanding than that. Plenty of runners struggled, and the race developed into a real slog. Aidan O’Brien is responsible for almost half the field here, and Ryan Moore has kept the ride on Benvenuto Cellini. A return to better ground is an obvious positive, but at 6/4 I was happy to look elsewhere.
Instead, I’m giving the British challenger Raheeb a chance. I’m a big admirer of trainer Owen Burrows and an even bigger fan of jockey Rossa Ryan. Raheeb is beautifully bred, being a half-brother to both Baaeed and Hukum, and he quickly advertised his talent by landing Group 3 honours on just his second career start.
His latest success came in a Group 3 at Sandown, where he comfortably accounted for Action, who was sent off a disappointing odds-on favourite. It’s difficult to fully assess the strength of that form, as I’m not convinced Action is top-class despite some solid performances at Group level. That said, you can only beat what’s put in front of you, and Raheeb did exactly that in impressive fashion.
He now steps up from 1m2f to 1m4f, which presents a new challenge but one that shouldn’t pose any major concerns. Both Hukum and Sea The Stars excelled over this distance, and there is every reason to believe Raheeb has the stamina to see out the extra two furlongs.
GambleAware