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As the eyes of the world focus on Aintree for the annual cavalry charge it’s time to look elsewhere for some value and a good place to go seems to be back to the trainer of last week’s winning nap Marco Botti and his colt Fanciful Angel.
The favourite here holds fancy entries, including the 2000 Guineas but Hugo Palmer’s Spanish Squeeze has a bit to find for now and looks poor value to me at 5/2 Favourite. He’s the only distance winner in the race, courtesy of a win at Kempton, where he drew away to beat the Godolphin favourite. That race hasn’t worked out well though, with no winners from 16 attempts since and the third horse that day, China Club, has had six goes at it for John Gosden and seems mired at a rating of 74, some way short of some of those running here. I feel obliged to take Spanish Squeeze on based on that race, and his shortish odds probably owe more to his previous run, where he was third to Michael Stoute’s Consort, in a maiden that worked out well and from which the winner was intended to progress towards the 2000 Guineas until a recent revelation that he’s now doubtful to be ready.
Looking elsewhere it is obvious that the two Hannon horses have to be considered. Lexington Times looks the more obvious one but Richard Hughes is on Misterioso, who kept some good company last year, behind Elm Park in the Royal Lodge and also running in the valuable Tattersalls Millions race. He hasn’t had a run yet this year though and has not run on the Polytrack surface either. I’ll pass on him for those reasons. Lexington Times beat the selection by two necks last time but Fanciful Angel is 3lbs better in this time. There’s probably not going to be a lot between them again here but at 5/1 and perhaps a little more to come from Fanciful Angel at this trip, he rates the bet with the stable in form.
Charlie Hills is not a man I follow and Dancetrack seems a typical horse of his, that looks shorter in the betting than seems warranted. He lacks a recent run and has something to find with the top rated ones here, yet he’s as low as 9/2 in a couple of places. Not for me at the price for sure.
The once raced and won Star Asset has a lot to step up to be competitive here and is the outsider.
3.40 Lingfield Saturday Fanciful Angel 5/1 (Stan James and Corals)
Thanks for the good crack. Time for me to move on. Be lucky.
Misterioso is highly thought of in camp Hannon, he has worked on the polytrack surface at home so is not alien to it. I wouldn’t bet him first time out but the decision by Hughes to take the ride ahead of Lexington Times who is match fit has pushed me into napping him in bob’s 4pp comp but only as I couldn’t find anything else to nap. I think he ran into a couple of decent ones in Elm Park and Nafaqa in the Royal Lodge and possibly needed longer than the 7 day break for his next race. I don’t think anything of that calibre is in the line up tomorrow.
Gaelic Warrior Gold Cup Winner 2026
Misterioso is highly thought of in camp Hannon, he has worked on the polytrack surface at home so is not alien to it. I wouldn’t bet him first time out but the decision by Hughes to take the ride ahead of Lexington Times who is match fit has pushed me into napping him in bob’s 4pp comp but only as I couldn’t find anything else to nap. I think he ran into a couple of decent ones in Elm Park and Nafaqa in the Royal Lodge and possibly needed longer than the 7 day break for his next race. I don’t think anything of that calibre is in the line up tomorrow.
The punters can’t get enough of this Spanish Squeeze, so the rumblings must be strong from the Palmer camp. He may well improve past these but at 6/4 I can’t be dreaming of taking that as a guarantee.
Lexington Times seems very weak, out to 11/2 and Misterioso is also on the drift a bit, out to 9/2. No doubt the money for the favourite is partly to blame for that. My horse is holding up OK for now. I made Fanciful Angel a 7/2 shot on my “back of a fag packet” prices, so 5/1 seemed worth a tickle.
I managed to nap Withernsea (2.45 Newcastle) for the 4PP competition but can’t amend my entry there. Richard Fahey’s horse caught my eye last time and I made a mental note to keep a look out for him next time. I am hoping that box 16 will prove a nice spot and he seems sure to go close. He’s been well backed since I picked him out and is a best price 7/2 at the moment.
Thanks for the good crack. Time for me to move on. Be lucky.
Withernsea should have hosed in. Paul Hanagan made a complete balls of it and the horse was flying through all too late. Terrible effort from the saddle and a sure fire winner stopped by incompetence.
Thanks for the good crack. Time for me to move on. Be lucky.
Good result Steve.
It was a tricky race to call and they all finished pretty much all together. Any reason why Hughes didn’t ride? I just Caught up with Withernsea’s race and Hanagan was doing an impression of a Hughes/Spencer sleeping lions game.Gaelic Warrior Gold Cup Winner 2026
Thanks Steve!!!!! Backed it at 9/2 TOP MAN!!!
Cheers Raymo, it was a bit of a tight one but you still get paid out. The morning favourite was very weak on course and the money was all for the horses who finished 1st and 2nd. Hard to believe that Fanciful Angel was 5/1 and Lexington Times 11/2 in the morning.
Spanish Squeeze must surely be having his sights lowered from the 2000 Guineas after that.
Thanks for the good crack. Time for me to move on. Be lucky.
Good result Steve.
It was a tricky race to call and they all finished pretty much all together. Any reason why Hughes didn’t ride? I just Caught up with Withernsea’s race and Hanagan was doing an impression of a Hughes/Spencer sleeping lions game.Thanks Nathan, Not sure why Jimmy Fortune ended up on Misterioso instead of Richard Hughes. There was always going to be little between Fanciful Angel and Lexington Times on the book, with a 3 lb difference for two necks this time around.
Charlie Hills’ Dancetrack ran well after going off at a price I thought more akin to his form and that was a promising effort.
Spanish Squeeze didn’t live up to the early support and his 2000 Guineas and Derby entries look a tad ambitious after that effort.
Thanks for the good crack. Time for me to move on. Be lucky.
Think your probably right ref Withernsea Steve. However, I do think a pattern is emerging with this horse and I think he is going to prove very expensive to follow. I just wonder if we are seeing another Docofthebay / Dhular Dhar type horse here. One that always looks a little unlucky and will win some races for sure, but starts much shorter than it should and does not win the races it should.
Hanagan is another worthy discussion point though. When I think of Hanagan , I think of a good but not brilliant jockey. What I believe makes him good is in the past he keeps things simple and tends to ride the same race, ie he sits just off the pace tracking the leaders.
Now from a very small sample so far this season, I get the impression he is sitting more off the pace in races. I don’t really have any stats to back this up, it’s just an observation I seem to have from watching the start of the flat this season. I will be keeping an eye on this in coming weeks. If their is anything in this, I can only presume it is his own decision. Maybe he is looking to improve and become a more rounded top level jockey. I struggle to believe it would come from Sheik Hamdam camp, as always believed he like his horses sat tracking the pace ,which makes Hanagan a perfect retainer jockey for him.
This maybe complete nonsense from me,but I think it’s worth keeping an eye on over a larger sample of rides in coming weeks/months.
Think your probably right ref Withernsea Steve. However, I do think a pattern is emerging with this horse and I think he is going to prove very expensive to follow. I just wonder if we are seeing another Docofthebay / Dhular Dhar type horse here. One that always looks a little unlucky and will win some races for sure, but starts much shorter than it should and does not win the races it should.
Hanagan is another worthy discussion point though. When I think of Hanagan , I think of a good but not brilliant jockey. What I believe makes him good is in the past he keeps things simple and tends to ride the same race, ie he sits just off the pace tracking the leaders.
Now from a very small sample so far this season, I get the impression he is sitting more off the pace in races. I don’t really have any stats to back this up, it’s just an observation I seem to have from watching the start of the flat this season. I will be keeping an eye on this in coming weeks. If their is anything in this, I can only presume it is his own decision. Maybe he is looking to improve and become a more rounded top level jockey. I struggle to believe it would come from Sheik Hamdam camp, as always believed he like his horses sat tracking the pace ,which makes Hanagan a perfect retainer jockey for him.
This maybe complete nonsense from me,but I think it’s worth keeping an eye on over a larger sample of rides in coming weeks/months.
I’ll be wary of going in at short odds on Withernsea but I felt there was more at work than just bad luck on Saturday. Sometimes in a race there is a horse who should definitely have won on the day and for me Withernsea was one of those, coming from an almost impossible position but still almost getting up.
As you say, these can be a bandwagon for punters the next time and go off way too short. It just seems a shame to see 4/1 as a good price and then watch as the horse was too much left to do.
Usually it’s just something to put behind you and move on but this felt like the best horse didn’t get the chance to prove it.
Thanks for the good crack. Time for me to move on. Be lucky.
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