Tag: Code of Honor

Meydan Thursday Preview

Posted on by Online Betting Pro

The Guineas meeting at Newmarket may seem a long way off to those of us sheltering in storm-lashed Britain but Sheikh Mohammed and Godolphin are already sifting through their classic contenders. The meeting at Meydan stages trials for both the 1000 and 2000 Guineas and there are plenty of familiar names on show tomorrow.

Wedding Ring was as genuine a two-year-old as you could wish to see last season, ending her season by picking up two valuable sales races at Newmarket. I am not a fan of those races but Sheikh Mohammed won’t have been complaining as Wedding Ring picked up a cool £400,000 for her efforts.

She raced six times, beating Ihtimal on her debut before finishing fifth at Royal Ascot. Ihtimal went on to prove the better filly and is on my short list for classic success in 2014 but Wedding Ring improved as the season went on. She only held Oxsana by a neck over six furlongs but extended that to almost two and a half lengths over seven.

Autumn Lily was a bit unpredictable with three wins and two duck eggs in her first season. She is undoubtedly useful and it is interesting that she is rated 3lbs higher than Wedding Ring. I’ll side with the latter and hope that she continues where she left off at Newmarket.

Emirates Flyer is the form horse in the 2000 Guineas trial but this is an altogether tougher assignment with 18 runners. The son of Acclamation showed that he is not fazed by big fields when just failing in the Redcar two-year-old trophy on his final start. He had previously chased home 2000 Guineas ante-post favourite Kingman at Sandown. He did look a little outclassed that day but time may show that to be no disgrace.

There are lots of unknown quantities here including the two trained by South African Mick de Kock. Safety Check was also useful as a two-year-old whilst Figure Of Speech lost his form after some early promise. I haven’t given up on Nezar who can be forgiven his closing effort at Newmarket but may want further than this seven furlongs now.

Cambridgeshire runner-up Code Of Honor has joined the ranks of Godolphin after a promising season with Henry Candy. He ran a blinder when just failing in the Cambridgeshire and looks capable of stepping up into Listed class this year. This looks an ideal starting point and Kieren Fallon will be doing the pushing and shoving.

Wedding Ring @5-2 Bet365

Emirates Flyer @4-1 Bet365

Code Of Honor @9-2 Bet365

Goodwood Thursday Preview

Posted on by Online Betting Pro

I’m always a bit worried when I tip the same horse as the Tipsy Tipster. Not that I question his judgement of course! It just feels like the poor horse is carrying a 10lb penalty!

That was certainly the case for Excess Knowledge in the Gordon Stakes at Goodwood on Wednesday. Having looked as though he needed every yard when staying on into third at Sandown last time I was sure he would be sitting third or fourth but Master Buick decided otherwise and held him up at the back.

As we saw at Sandown, he doesn’t do anything very quickly so being messed about when trying to get a run was far from ideal. The Channel 4 commentary team was quite kind to Buick but basically he rode a poor race and should definitely have won. Whether or not it was St Leger form I’m not sure but there will be another day for Excess Knowledge.

My winnings from Yeager are slowly but surely making their way back to the beloved bookies thanks to Goodwood so let’s hope for better luck on Cup day. At first glance it looks a bit of a weak renewal with neither Estimate or Simenon in attendance. John Oxx has expressed the view that it is a better race than last year when Saddler’s Rock won and he is most concerned by Brown Panther and Mount Athos.

Of the two I much prefer Brown Panther who has never quite fulfilled his potential. Perhaps this step up in trip will be the making of him and he’s a fair price at around 8-1. I’m also going to support the German raider Altano who was sat out of his ground at Ascot and got going all too late in fifth. I’m hoping that the penny will have dropped for jockey Mr Pedroza and he will be closer to the pace this time (famous last words!).

There are some promising types in the opener but none more so than Code Of Honor. There was a lot to like about his Sandown victory and he looks the sort of horse that could wind up in the Cambridgeshire.

Ben Hall must be better than he showed at Ascot as he was well supported that day. The form wasn’t exactly franked earlier in the week and I should probably do Gosden and Buick a favour and leave them alone! Unfortunately the fact that he’s about 10-1 and the form horse Figure Of Speech is 6-4 leaves me no choice but to support Ben Hall each-way.

My last bet of the day is on Muharrib in the 4.50. I felt confident that he was coming to win his race at Newmarket before hanging right to the rail and finishing second to Law Enforcement. These three-year-old handicaps take some figuring out but I think he’s still got improvement in him and will be disappointed if he doesn’t make the frame at least.

Code Of Honor 4-1 Coral
Ben Hall 10-1 Totesport
Brown Panther 8-1 Skybet
Altano 13-2 William Hill
Muharrib 8-1 Coral