11.20am Cirrus Des Aigles will miss Treve clash after setback
Tony Paley: Cirrus Des Aigles will miss his much-anticipated clash with Treve in the Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud later this month after suffering a minor setback.
Trainer Corine Barande-Barbe said: “It’s just a little problem with his leg, it’s very, very small but it just means that we cannot work him at the moment. It’s nothing serious, just a little bump and a bruise but it will prevent him from running in the Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud.
“With a horse like him who gives everything in his work and racing, you have to be sure everything is 100 per cent otherwise you can have serious problems. He can only do light work for a few weeks now so I think he will be off until the end of July.”
Cirrus Des Aigles has won seven Group Ones and Barande-Barbe has raised the possibility of trying to add an Irish success to his tally when he is back to full strength later in the year.
She added: “It is difficult to say when he will be back and where he will go, but we have not forgotten about the Irish Champion Stakes. Maybe he will have a race before that, we will have to see, but that could be an option.”
Wednesday’s best bets, by Chris Cook
So, £11m for a new all-weather track. It seems an enormous sum of money but a hard-nosed business like ARC is hardly likely to take a flier on something like that, so we must imagine they expect to make a long-term profit from their resurfacing at Newcastle.
Everyone else in racing is mulling the use to which they could have put that £11m. I wonder how much it would cost to reopen this old place. I don’t suppose the idea appeals to many jockeys but I have a feeling it would attract spectators.
The resurgence of Pat Dobbs continues, the veteran jockey riding a double at Salisbury yesterday, three days after the first Group One win of his 18-year career. Richard Hannon may have put him aboard another winner in Steal The Scene (3.10) at Haydock.
This one won a handicap at the fifth attempt at Leicester a fortnight ago, with a degree of comfort that suggested the switch to a fast surface made a big difference for him. He’s up 8lb, although that still only puts him 3lb ahead of the initial rating he got after his maiden win in August and he looks one to stick with, so long as Haydock’s expected good to firm turns out to be just that. He’s 5-1 as I type.
In the following race, Birdman (3.40) may be able to resume winning ways at 9-2. He won his first three after joining David O’Meara this year but was then beaten on soft ground at Ripon, having arguably been given a bit much to do.
He’s still more than a stone below his peak rating and I can see him scoring again, now that he’s back on fast ground and the jockey is hopefully satisfied that he can trust the horse’s stamina.
I’m surprised to be getting 7-1 about Ski Slope (8.10) for the familiar Hannon and Richard Hughes combination at Kempton tonight. She didn’t get a clear run and stayed on into fifth on her Salisbury reappearance, which is, I concede, not the most inspiring effort.
But Hannon horses can come on plenty for their reappearance run and this filly was having her first start for 11 months. One month later, she should be quite a bit straighter and I don’t think she’s harshly weighted. She won her maiden on Polytrack, at Lingfield.
Tipping competition, day three
Our winners so far:
Monday
Tiger Jim 15-2
Dawn’s Early Light 9-1
Foxtrot Knight 7-2
Tuesday
Maybelater 6-1
Perfect Bounty 7-2
Cyflymder 11-4
And our leader is …
yasmin11 +19.25
… who has had four winners out of six so far, including Maybelater and Cyflymder yesterday. The same double was achieved by budgie27 (+14.75), who lies second, while jamesstod (+10) is third.
Today, we’d like your tips, please, for these races: 3.40 Haydock, 5.10 Haydock, 7.50 Hamilton.
This week’s prize is a pair of tickets to Cartmel for Sunday 28 June, which, I’m told by the course, is their first ever Sunday fixture! So you’ll witness a bit of history, as every other British track has already raced on a Sunday at some point. The day has been billed as Big Top Racing because there’s a circus on the site that weekend offering free performances for racegoers before and after racing. Those of you who don’t win can buy tickets here.
As ever, our champion will be the tipster who returns the best profit to notional level stakes of £1 at starting price on our nominated races, of which there will be three each day up until Friday. Non-runners count as losers. If you have not joined in so far this week, you are welcome to do so today, but you will start on -6.
In the event of a tie at the end of the week, the winner will be the tipster who, from among those tied on the highest score, posted their tips earliest on the final day.
For terms and conditions click here.
Good luck!
Click here for all the day’s racecards, form, stats and results.
And post your tips or racing-related comments below.
