Today's best bets, by Chris Cook
Cape Blanco won the Man O'War Stakes at Belmont, New York last night, his first victory since last year's Irish Champion Stakes. It's always so impressive when a horse from these isles can go over to America and win a major prize, and a bit surprising for anyone who saw the same horse getting well beaten in the Prix Ganay or the Queen Anne.
I believe this is the ninth top-class success of what is becoming an excellent year for Aidan O'Brien. The Ballydoyle trainer's mass of middle distance talent includes So You Think, St Nicholas Abbey and Await The Dawn, while the Coolmore partners also own Pour Moi at Andre Fabre's yard. You'd imagine that lot could rack up a few more Group Ones before 2011 is out.
This £230,000 prize takes Cape Blanco past £2m in earnings and must have been a welcome success for Jamie Spencer, who would have had the winning ride on Dream Ahead in the July Cup yesterday if he hadn't been wanted in America. He tweeted later that he had just blown a fair portion of his percentage on a couple of Ipads for him and Emma and their children.
You can watch Cape Blanco's win here Spencer and his Flat-racing colleagues presumably have their feet up today because the only action is over jumps. At Stratford, the Summer Salver may be won by a horse Spencer rode once before he switched to hurdles, Brunston (3.00), now with Nicky Henderson.
Brunston was coaxed to a cheeky win on his first try in a handicap hurdle at Hereford three weeks ago and I think a 7lb rise will still leave him better treated than today's rivals. Rajnagan is up 15lb for his last success but can certainly win another of these races on his new mark. I think he'll have his hands full with Brunston, however.
Spock (2.30) is not necessarily the most logical choice in the preceding handicap chase because he would have been beaten in a four-runner race last time, but for a late fall by the leader, Life Of A Luso. Still, there would have been no shame in that, since Life Of A Luso won his previous two and has won again since.
Spock is learning about the game and, being trained by Paul Nicholls, can be expected to improve on the sketchy jumping he showed last time, his first try over obstacles. He faces another weak field today, which is why he's 9-4. The second-favourite is Plunkett, who is 0/6 over fences.
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