Fair to say, Classiest has one of the worst names associated with a horse, as she is anything but the classiest horse about.
This wasn't a great Listed race, so I really expected a decent effort from O'Brien's horse, with a place at a minimum being on the cards. She went backwards before turning for home, and she was hand in hand with her stablemate, who was equally as bad.
Manxman was supported in the market, which was to be expected with the stamina testing ground. He just kept plugging along on the heavy ground at Goodwood, and did it easily in the end. I don't know how much he'll go up in handicap for that win, but it might make it a struggle to win one of the Cesarewitch races in the next month.
Blue Hercules 4/1 – Carlisle 3.12
This is a crazily good maiden for a Carlisle meeting in the middle of the week, and I'm going back to Blue Hercules, who I tipped up last time out.
I thought he was going to win with plenty in hand last time out at Ffos Las, but he got smoked by an Emmet Mullins horse. On the back of that run, I said he needs to be dropped in trip. This is only one furlong less, but it's going to help him if he's ridden in the same way as last time out.
There's clearly potential with this horse, and he has ability; it's just whether this furlong less is the key to his success. He has run well over 12f in the past, so it's not like he doesn't stay the trip; maybe he wasted too much energy last time out, and this race might be different.
I think Lord Byron is too short, and is obviously priced up on his jumps form. His form when he was trained by Aidan O'Brien on the flat wasn't the greatest, so based on what we know, you've got to take him on.
Thunder Wonder 9/2 – Redcar 2.51
Considering my fingers were burned when I tipped up a horse on a roll when he was stepped up in class, I'm not falling into that trap with Lucky Hero.
Lucky Hero is coming to Redcar in good form, but he has won two Class 5 races, and his last win was in a three-runner race. He could be capable of improving once more in a harder race, but Thunder Wonder has been competing in Class 2 and Class 3 races for the last year and is coming back into form, so might appreciate this drop in quality.
Fox Avatar was worth mentioning for a yard that is 1/1 at Redcar this year and has a 21% strike rate at the track in his training career. However, Ray Dawson hasn't made the trip up for the ride and has gone to Carlisle instead, so he must not trust Fox Avatar to deliver the goods.
GambleAware