James Doyle is on a run of good Saturdays at present, having won a Group Two at Doncaster on St Leger day and then added both the Gold and Silver Cups at Ayr last weekend. Doyle has landed another good mount in Niceofyoutotellme (3.50) in this weekend’s big betting race, the Cambridgeshire at Newmarket.
A winner over this course and distance from a 6lb lower mark back at the Guineas meeting, the gelding impressed with the way he cruised through that race, wearing a hood for only the second time. It was also his seasonal reappearance and he is fresh again here, having not been seen since July, which may help him.
He has excuses for his two defeats since May, having met trouble in running in the Royal Hunt Cup, when the step back in trip cannot have helped. Goodwood, where he was last seen, is not really his track.
Doyle replaces Jim Crowley, who has quit as Ralph Beckett’s stable jockey since this five-year-old last raced. Doyle should not be short of confidence, which is always helpful on a hold-up horse in a big field.
Niceofyoutotellme is attractive at 16-1. For each-way backers, Tigers Tale appeals at 40-1. The winner of a valuable handicap at Kempton last time, he was placed in last year’s Silver Cambridgeshire from a 6lb lower mark.
Today’s best bets
2.00 Newmarket From the in-form Clive Cox yard Rosalie Bonheur is unbeaten in two and still looks on a good mark, having been raised 5lb for her recent Salisbury success. The fifth in that race has won since.
2.15 Market Rasen A Listed winner on the Flat, Mijhaar hosed up on his hurdles debut last season but did not go on from that. With Tony McCoy aboard for the first time and last season’s hood dispensed with, he may now be able to resume the progress that seemed likely.
2.35 Newmarket This does not look a strong Royal Lodge and may fall to Nafaqa, whose Listed win at Doncaster recently is comfortably the best form on offer. He beat Toocoolforschool, who impressed in landing a Group Two eight days later.
2.50 Market Rasen Dangers abound but Ballincurrig is hard to oppose. Most progressive for Dan Skelton last season, he put together a run of three successes in the spring that ended only when he was brought down at Haydock in May. Skelton is likely to have him ready for this good opportunity.
3.10 Newmarket Tiggy Wiggy, having started her campaign in March, could be forgiven for having had enough by this point but she has shown no sign of it in her races, getting better each time, and is hard to oppose in the Cheveley Park Stakes. When last seen, at York’s Ebor meeting, she won the Lowther, beating Cursory Glance, who has since won a Group One in Ireland. This field is not short of potential but all her rivals have a lot to prove, compared with the favourite. André Fabre’s High Celebrity has excuses for her beaten effort on the July course this summer, while John Gosden’s Tendu is completely unexposed.
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