@RacingWithMike 13:50 Newmarket - Al Musmak 6/1 My pick for this week's lucky 15 is Al Musmak in Newmarket's group 2 Royal Lodge that kicks off the card. He's done nothing wrong in his 3 starts to date, his only defeat being to the very talented Rosallion, and he relished every step of the trip when upped to a mile at Haydock on his last start where he tasted listed success. I see no reason why he cannot continue to progress and the proven stamina against rivals who haven't yet raced over the trip will be a big asset. I'm happy to back him here against the likes of Capulet and Aablan. For all that the latter might well improve for the trip, I don't think the Solario form amounts to much at all. In regards to Capulet, I think he may have been somewhat flattered at Leopardstown on a weekend where barely any horse was coming off the pace and he enjoyed an easy time on the front end with stablemate Diego Velazquez. At Vimeiro could be a fly in the ointment, myself...

“Mark Droppers” To Track 26/09/2023 @lovestheraces Copper And Five 68 Firm Northern Mile —   66 (-2) Ground was softer than official going, now 3lb below last win mark (this season). Cuban Breeze 79 5–6F AW? —  77 (-2) Competitive off marks ranging from mid-low 80’s this season, and high 80’s to low 90’s last season. AW record much better. Sound Of Iona 70 Firm 6F —   67 (-3) Surprised to see her run at Ayr considering she loves quick ground, and Ayr was never going to be quick after all of that rain they had. Think she wants 6F at this stage in her career. 10lb’s below her last win mark, so she’s on a “winnable” mark, for when conditions go her way. Golden Apollo 67 Good 6F —  65 (-2) Another horse that probably wants a quicker surface, better record over 6F. A rain-softened 7F (and change) was probably a shade too far. Whether he’s currently on a winnable mark for those conditions remains to be seen, but he’s already dropped 13lb’s this season, and he’s now 5lb’s below his last turf ...

Kit Gabriel 5.24 Wolverhampton (Saturday)   Of course I’ve had to sneak a class 5 all-weather handicapper in here!   Kit Gabriel is a horse that has hopefully, finally got it all together. He’s recently changed trainer from Amy Murphy to Dave Loughnane and it seems to have worked the oracle. Kit Gabriel travelled awfully strongly in this race and even suffered a small bit of interference when making headway, this didn’t affect him as he won easily.   I hope Kit Gabriel will be able to move up the ranks this all-weather season as that performance suggested he was above this grade. I’d be sure he’s got some more winning still to do so long as they give him a winter AW campaign.   Harappan 5:30 York (Saturday) Harappan is a horse that you’ll probably think ‘why was he eye-catching’, and that’s fair enough considering he was beaten 46 lengths in a Class 4 Handicap. However, Harappan was bought by a legend in the game (C H Mchgie) after his debut for £180,000. He has stea...

Ayr Gold Cup hero Significantly at home in Malton A Significant Success and Doyle Double Delight There was some great racing over the weekend with plenty of group races over multiple meetings and some big field handicaps for punters to get their teeth stuck into. The feature race of the weekend was up in Scotland where 24 runners went to post for the Ayr Gold Cup. Julie Camacho would have been delighted to end her long losing run in a race as prestigious as this with a horse so unlucky in the Portland just 7 days before. He ran an absolute belter that day when he was narrowly touched off by Annaf and history was not about to repeat itself as he charged home to win by a neck despite being checked twice in the run in to restore a bit of form to the Camacho yard. I didn’t back him but was so happy to see him win after seeing just how much of a yard favourite he is when we turned up to see him on Malton Open Day. Of the placed horses, Ramazan ran a belter in second for a 3 year old (only 3...

  @ RacingWithMike 15:00 Ayr - Pretty Crystal 7/2 After last week’s disappointment, I’m dipping my toe back into familiar waters with a tip at the feature meeting on a Saturday as opposed to a 17 runner handicap at Bath. I think Pretty Crystal is a great bet at 7/2 (she definitely wasn’t 10/1 at time of original write up on Thursday) in this group 3 contest over 6 furlongs. With two horses near the top of the betting very unexposed, it makes sense to me for a chance to be taken on one of those near the head of the ratings with proven group form and of the 3 horses rated 97 or higher, I’m chancing Fahey’s filly despite the ratings saying she has a bit to find with Navassa Island and Dorothy Lawrence. The latter has certainly improved since stepping up to 6 furlongs so rates a big danger albeit her best form seems to be with ‘firm’ in the going and she had to scrape home to beat inferior rivals over 5f here in July. I’m also not entirely convinced I can trust Navassa Island as she se...

Who’s Well In? Ayr Gold, Silver and Bronze Cup Edition @lovestheraces What do I mean by “who’s well in”? Well, the Ayr Gold Cup is an "early closer" race, which means that the horse's race-carrying weight is decided weeks before the race . Whereas the weights of other races are  decided using the current ratings of the horses. Because of this, in "early closer" races we get horses that are: Officially “Well in”  — horses that are now rated higher than the mark used to decide the weight they carry. And horses that are “Wrong at the weights”  — horses that are now rated lower than the mark used to decide the weight they carry. To give an example of this: In the Ayr Gold Cup Juan Les Pins is currently rated 106, but he gets to race from a rating of 98 — meaning he is 8lb’s well in officially. Compare this to Escobar who is currently rated 94, and has to run from a rating of 100 — meaning he is officially 6lb’s wrong at the weights. This means that in the Ayr Gold ...

“Mark Droppers” To Track 19/09/2023 @lovestheraces Previously Tracked (New marks/updates): Award Dancer 72 Newcastle —  74 (+2) Reasoning is in the 29/08/2023 Edition . As I mentioned in last week’s edition , I was shocked to see him finishing so close at York. Entered at York/Ayr this week, but I’m only tracking for the AW (Newcastle). Technically had his mark raised, but I wanted to reiterate that he remains tracked for AW races. Highwaygrey 71 Firm Ground 10F —  70 (-1) Reasoning is in the 05/09/2023 Edition , I'm willing to keep him tracked for a very quick 10F in the North. Ran at Redcar today, but with the current weather I am very sceptical with how ‘good’ the ground was. I have seen a tweet saying that, David Allan had said it’s riding soft. As well as Hurstwood (a quick ground horse) being pulled from the race after, because of the ‘going’. Redrosezorro 63 Soft/Heavy Catterick 6F —  60 (-3) Surprised they didn’t win last week, although I think the ground was on the g-s si...