Dancing in the Rain to the Oaky Cokey and Seville still a ‘juicy’ price; a classic weekend awaits
From a punting perspective Corinthian picked out several stage winners in his preview of the Giro and although Contador was supreme we still picked out the 2nd, 3rd and 6th for a small profit. This weekend Horse Racing tops the bill and below is Sports Leviathans preview of the biggest male and female flat horse races of the year.
With the two big classics of the flat season taking centre stage this weekend I feel sad that for the first time in many years I won’t be present to cheer the winners home from the hill inside Epsom’s famous track. With my derby selections already posted up as Aiden O’Brien’s Seville and Andre Fabre’s Pour Moi I am happy to stick with these two. I am still not convinced by the Queen’s Carlton House. He is a short price due to his Dante win but that race was very slowly run and didn’t suit Seville at all. The extra distance will help our selection and although Carlton House clearly has a good turn of foot it will remain to be seen how well he travels around Epsom and whether he can reproduce that acceleration off a stronger gallop. Only time will tell. Pour Moi is now a confirmed runner and that interests me. Having advised him at twice the price he is now I am very pleased he will take his chance and feel happy with our two representatives.
Already Advised
Seville – Win @ 7/1
Pour Moi – Win @ 10/1
The Oaks is also a tricky conundrum. The main protagonists are mainly borne out of wins or runs over a mile. Blue Bunting, Havant and Misty for me all ran in the Guineas with Misty for me going on to win in the Irish version. Blue Bunting did win in striking fashion and looked like she could do with a further distance however another 4 furlongs could be a little too far looking at her Dams pedigree. The Oaks trials make up the others who top the market and although both Wonder of Wonders and Zain al BoIdan won comfortably I was not really taken by their victories and so am going to look elsewhere. If you are unsure about the top market leaders for a classic it is often prudent to look to ‘hot’ maidens or listed races, so described because of the quality of the horses in it is high. The Newbury Listed trial had six previous winners out of eight with the most impressive in my eyes being Dancing Rain. Although she was second she would certainly have won over a longer distance (the oaks is two furlongs longer). She looks gutsy, set to stay and relatively unexposed. Add to this the positive murmurings coming out of William Haggas camp following her gallops I like the look of her at 14/1. Her conqueror Izzi top is currently 22/1 and at first I thought this looked the value bet, but the market speaks volumes as do the yards whispers about her, couple with this her pedigree and the fact she probably would have beaten Izzi top over further Dancing Rain is selection to land the spoils in the Oaks. As a little saver I also would dabble in the market with Stan James that quotes Dancing Rain at almost the same price but without the impressive favourite Blue Bunting. This may also be a smart play.
Epsom Oaks – Friday 3rd June
Dancing Rain – E/W @ 14/1 – General price
Dancing Rain – Win @ 12/1 – Without Blue Bunting (Stan James)
I had mixed emotions last weekend in the BMW golf. Having tucked in Lee Westwood I was gutted he didn’t get the job done. But every cloud has a silver lining and SL’s favourite golfer Luke Donald was the only other player I was pleased to see win. He is now rightfully the World number 1 and playing sublime golf (although he wasn’t at his best at Wentworth, the way he saved himself on the back 9 of the 3rd round was outrageous). If only Westwood had holed that 8 footer on the last he wouldn’t have gotten in to the mess of the play off where he took Donald on in a short game competition. There was only ever going to be one winner.
A final pointon Johan Edfors – He is 50-1 for the Welsh Open golf and for a man in form, who has recently qualified for the US open, I think that is worth a dabble each way. Happy punting!
Johan Edfors e/w @ 50/1 – Welsh Open
