I feel hard done by with a fairly poor ride on Tex.
Pat Cosgrave had the right horse underneath him to win that Brighton Mile race, and he chuckled it. The horse was a little keen to begin with, but then settled. The eventual winner was in last place when they turned for home, but young Cieren Fallon took the horse wide, and that was the decisive moment. Pat sat and waited and then switched his horse wide, but it was too late. Small margin loss in the end, but it should have been a win.
Mister Sox was outpaced to begin with, which seems surprising because they didn't go a frantic gallop. The winner didn't get contested for the lead like I thought he would, and in the end he had the race run to how he wanted and profited for him.
Endorsement 2/1 (1pt) – Leopardstown 6.35
Since the market opened, the top of the market has switched. Ethical Diamond was the favourite to begin with, then it was Endorsement, and they've recently switched again.
In my opinion, Endorsement should be the correct favourite, and I think he should be an even shorter price, but the wide stall is probably keeping him at the price he is at. On paper, Ethical Diamond has to be a big player. He is a Group 1 winner from the Breeders' Cup, and won last year's Ebor. I fell for him at Royal Ascot, but when you really look at it, that Group 1 win probably makes him look better than what he actually is.
He beat Rebel's Romance, who is a very solid horse, but she is an ageing horse and had a long season last year. Amiloc was in fourth that day, and that horse is a Group 2 performer when he decides to run his race.
As a result, Endorsement looked a very solid alternative. He was second at Royal Ascot, but his runs prior were very good efforts. He was third at this track to James J Braddock, who went on to be third in the Derby. Pierre Bonnard was second in the same race, and he was third in the Irish Derby. This longer trip is going to be better for him than the 10f he has run over for the majority of this season. The only time he raced over this far was a 7L easy success in a race he was meant to win.
North View 5/1 (1pt) – Brighton 5.30
I can see why Silver Trumpet is the horse at the top of the market, but it looks like he does his best performances at Epsom. Brighton shares some similarities to Epsom, but not as much as you'd think.
I like the angle on North View. I'm not going to say I know a lot about the 7lb claimer in the saddle, but going off her strike rate, she must be decent. The 7lb she removes from North View makes him of real interest.
He is a five-year-old and was struggling to find his feet this season, but when he raced in a Class 5 last time out, he ran much better. He has only raced in two Class 5 races; one was last time out, and the other was when he was a juvenile.
GambleAware