Today’s best bets, by Greg Wood
Hathal, who lined up for a Group One last time out, is a non-runner in this evening’s Listed Hyde Stakes at Kempton Park, but there is still an interesting and competitive field for a race that will guarantee the winner a place in the Mile on Finals Day at Lingfield Park next spring.
There will be a big crowd of around 10,000 in attendance for the conclusion to the all-weather season on Good Friday, but a decidedly smaller turnout at the Sunbury track tonight, despite the quality of the card. There were 659 paying customers at Kempton to see Big Baz win the Hyde Stakes last season and 911 for the same card the year before, so the concept of £40,000 races on a Wednesday evening clearly has some way to go before it can be said to have grabbed the attention of racing’s paying public, but then the all-weather has always been as much about the off-course customer as those who pay through the gate.
With that in mind, the introduction of freely-available sectional timing data from all of the Championships events this year is another step forward and should offer further clues to the merit of individual performances and the overall quality of the form as the winter season works its way towards Finals Day.
Even with Hathal out of the reckoning, tonight’s race is an interesting meeting between proven all-weather form in the shape of Sovereign Debt, who is one of the best and also most consistent performers on the circuit in recent year, and Roger Varian’s Ennaadd (6.40) also returning for another crack at the surface after finishing well beaten when favourite for the Hyde Stakes 12 months ago.
Sovereign Debt is a top-class operator on artificial surfaces and arrives here on the back of two victories, including a decent Listed event at Leopardstown last time out. Ennaadd, however, may well prove to be a cut above the opposition that Sovereign Debt normally faces and there is also a chance that he now produces his very best form at seven furlongs.
Ennaadd is unraced since completing a hat-trick over this course and distance in April, when he won in a decent time despite being unsuited by the way the race developed. He could be a big player on the all-weather circuit this winter and should get his campaign off to a winning start this evening.
The Kempton card also includes a Class 2 handicap over two miles with £19,000 in prize money, which should go the way of James Fanshawe’s Higher Power (7.10), while, on the afternoon’s jumps cards, Satanic Beat (2.40) may be worth a bet at Warwick. His first race in a novice chase in October made it clear that fences are not for him, but he was back to form when returned to hurdles last time out and has an obvious chance from the same mark today.
The consistent Loughalder (2.25) should also go well in a competitive handicap chase at Chepstow, the track where he has recorded four of his eight career wins. There is 12-1 available.
