The Listed Doonside Cup is the feature event on the opening day of what is, in theory, the Ayr Gold Cup Festival in association with a non-ABP bookmaker, but most us still think of as Ayr’s Western meeting. The going is soft, good-to-soft in places, and David Lanigan has chosen the race as a possible stepping stone to the Champion Stakes at Ascot, no less, for his classy four-year-old Almodovar.
The son of Sea The Stars did not race at two and made his racecourse debut in June 2015, before recording his first victory at the second attempt over today’s course and distance the following month. Even now, he is still a work in progress with just seven previous runs behind him, including an excellent third place in the Hardwicke Stakes at Royal Ascot in June, but his limp performance when stepped up to Group One company in the International Stakes last time is an obvious cause for concern.
The front-running tactics that had served him well in his two previous races this year were abandoned at York, while he was also racing on good-to-firm ground for the first time since his debut. He could bounce back on today’s softer surface, but the question that matters from a betting point of view is whether he is a decent price to do so at around 7-4.
Since he will line up against Abdon (4.50), the answer is probably not. Sir Michael Stoute’s put up a striking performance to win a handicap at Haydock last time out off a mark of 102 and was only a length-and-a-quarter behind Hawkbill, the subsequent Eclipse Stakes winner, at Newmarket in April. He is even more lightly raced than Almodovar, with four starts to date, and his stronger recent form lends him greater appeal at the prices.
Safe Voyage (3.05) got off the mark at the fourth attempt at Thirsk in July and could find today’s race being run to suit his hold-up running style, while Novinophobia (2.35) is another with a solid chance on the same card.
An excellent three-day meeting at Yarmouth concludes this afternoon with Tropical Rock (3.15) perhaps the pick of the prices in the nursery, while Kassia (4.00) could be the answer to a valuable and competitive fillies’ handicap at Pontefract.
We are no longer able to continue with competitions every week, but they will still run in the biggest weeks (Cheltenham, Aintree, Royal Ascot, Glorious Goodwood and maybe one or two others, as well as the Christmas quiz).
We’ll still have a Talking Horses each day for tips, analysis and news, so we very much hope you’ll join us to chew over whatever racing happens to be going on and post your tips or racing-related comments below.
