1.15pm Newmarket: A fast 5f is ideal for Stone Of Destiny. He ran well off a much higher mark than this on the all-weather first time out last season , and is back on the same mark as when winning at the Shergar Cup meeting in the summer. He is capable of taking this prize at his best, but it’s obviously a wide-open sprint handicap, as they always are.
1.50pm Newmarket: I am going to take a chance with Far Above. He has a lot to find with a few of these form-wise but he is s progressive, lightly-raced colt, and he is the subject of very positive chat in Newmarket. He is the coming force in what looks a winnable Palace House.
2.25pm Newmarket: The three form horses – Magic Lily, Terebellum and Queen Power – are probably the three to concentrate on here, and I would go with Magic Lily. She carries a 3lb penalty but her juvenile form, and more recently her three starts in Dubai earlier in the year, mark her out as the one to beat. I would also put in a decent word for Ardiente, who cost 80,000gns at the December sales. She is actually in foal to Advertise and has been working well, so the hope is that she will improve enough to get some black type here.
3pm Newmarket: There has been a lot of chat about the William Haggas horse Al Aasy in Newmarket but I was taken with Waldkonig’s win at Wolverhampton and he could be the one to beat. Maybe the fast ground would be a worry for him, as his Arc-winning half-brother Waldgeist did like some ease, but he does look a very good prospect.
3.35pm Newmarket: Pinatubo would need to be about 10lb below his best not to win here – or one of his rivals would have to improve at least that much to beat him – and to my mind he has a far better chance than his price of a shades odds-on would suggest. On form he really should be a lot shorter.
I know everyone raves about his National Stakes win and rightly so, but for me the Dewhurst was just as impressive in its way. I am not making comparisons with Frankel, but it was very reminiscent of his win in that race. He was stuck out wide on the wrong leg for most of the way, and had to dig in and fight. But he travelled into the race and was well on top at the line.
Who's excited to see Pinatubo on Saturday
Biggest question is has he trained on? pic.twitter.com/jJTGCvZAFR
— FANTASY HORSE RACING (@FantasyRacing__) June 2, 2020
You have to respect the runner-up Arizona here, but he really does have a long way to go to turn around the form with the winner. They all do, including Kameko.
I know he was impressive in winning the rearranged Vertem Futurity at Newcastle but, being a Kitten’s Joy, Kameko was always likely to be suited by that surface. Far more so than the three 1m4f-bred Galileos that followed him home, anyway.
The betting suggests it is near-enough a coin-toss as to whether Pinatuno wins this, but he surely has a better chance than that.
4.10pm Newmarket: Montatham ran well off this mark on his most recent start at Kempton, and he is the one I like most in this 1m handicap. He has still a lot of potential to improve, and maybe the gelding operation he has had since his last start has improved him, too. He also won first time up last season.
4.45pm Newmarket: I think William Haggas could have a quickfire double as his Nahaarr looks the horse with the most upside in this handicap. His winning run came to an end behind Qaysar on the July course back in August, but I think he can leave that form behind here after a break.
5.20pm Newmarket: Endowed went up a fair amount in the weights for winning emphatically at Kempton last August, but he could well be up to defying the rise in what is clearly a very competitive 3yo handicap.
5.50pm: Deja was two from two on turf in 2018, and then he took a big step forward on just his fourth start when winning at Kempton last year. His winning run came to and end at Newcastle but I believe he’s a good horse and capable of winning this off 100. Hopefully a gelding operation will have settled him down a bit, as he was a bit too keen and fresh for his own good.
