The standout race on Saturday is the Hungerford Stakes at Newbury and punters planning to have a bet on the weekend’s feature race in Britain would be strongly advised to take a close look at it now with ante-post favourite Toormore set to miss the contest and the bookmakers exhibiting a difference of opinion about the odds for the market leaders which is rare in a race of this quality..
Those who fancy Home Of The Brave to go well following his emphatic Minstrel Stakes success at The Curragh last month can back the runner at 8-1 with one firm even though Paddy Power makes the Hugo Palmer-trained runner the 9-2 favourite. The Newmarket handler has confirmed his charge a definite runner and reports the classy three-year-old to have taken his convincing victory over the proven Group-race campaigner Gordon Lord Byron in his stride.
“The intention is to run Home Of The Brave in the Hungerford Stakes. He has taken his trip to Ireland remarkably well,” said Palmer on Monday. “He is a horse who needs a little bit of time between his races and the one day under four weeks between Ireland and Newbury is perfect for him. He is very clear-winded and does not need a vast amount of work in between runs. I am as happy with him now as I was 10 days before Ireland.”
The one-time Classic hope Richard Pankhurst, bought by Godolphin after winning the Chesham Stakes at Royal Ascot last year, is generally on offer at 10-1 and may return to action following his absence through injury since that victory. However, the owners also have Safety Check, the 7-1 joint second favourite with Estidhkaar, among the entries as well as Toormore, who is generally favourite with bookmakers at around 7-2, but who is on offer at 5-1 with Paddy Power.
Toormore, though, seems certain to miss the race, his trainer Richard Hannon telling the Racing Post: “I would say Toormore is likely to go for the Jacques Le Marois [at Deauville on Sunday]. I have left him in the Hungerford to have a look at it, but he looked to me [at Goodwood last time] as if he wanted a mile and he has won at Group Two level, so the next logical step is to go back up and try to win a Group One.”
Hannon also told the Post that Estidhkaar is likely to be sent to France at the weekend to join his stable companion while the trainer will rely on either Coulsty, Emell or Tupi in the Hungerford. He said: “Tupi is our most likely runner. Estidhkaar is also in [the Hungerford] but he may well go to the Jacques Le Marois as well. Dane O’Neill is coming to ride him on Wednesday morning and we will know more after that.”
Breton Rock is reported to be on course to try to repeat last year’s victory by the Newmarket trainer David Simcock, who clearly has an eye on the weather. “He’s a good horse when he gets his conditions. He’s very beatable on ground good or faster. On soft ground he takes a bit of beating,” Simcock told At The Races on Monday. Not surprisingly, with little rain forecast before Friday, he can be backed at 16-1.
The jumps jockey Robert Thornton said on Monday he is still hoping to get the all-clear to return to riding when the National Hunt season proper is under way in the autumn after being out of action since April 2014.
Thornton has been off the track since suffering a serious neck injury in a fall from the Alan King-trained Say When at Chepstow.
At the moment he still cannot ride out but the 37-year-old hopes he will be able to continue his riding career. “I’m aiming for the autumn. It’s still under management review with the medical team and the BHA,” the rider said on At The Races at Wolverhampton’s Flat meeting, where he was helping supervise a runner now in training with Jamie Osborne.
“It’s fingers crossed, basically,” he added. “I’m not able to ride out or anything at the minute. There are one or two complications, but hopefully I’ll overcome them. It’s very frustrating. It’s not too bad this time of year, but it was through Christmas time and Cheltenham and Aintree last year.
“I suppose when the autumn in October comes round it will be frustrating again. Hopefully, I’ll be back by then. We’ll try and carry on where we left off.”
