Cecil’s Attraction looks good at Haydock
Haydock hosts a six-race card on Thursday with the feature event being the Betfred Handicap at 3.30pm. A field of 13 are set to line up for this one-mile contest, which is restricted to three-year-olds, and it includes a number of very promising types. Capital Attraction makes the journey from Henry Cecil’s Newmarket yard and this lightly raced son of Speightstown has every chance of making his handicap debut a winning one.
Having cost 95,000 guineas as a two-year-old, he made just one appearance, running a nice race in fourth behind Botanist. In order to justify his price tag, a better performance on his seasonal return at Lingfield back in May was required, and he delivered it in some style. Always up with the pace, he suddenly found himself in front with two furlongs to run, when the early leader Ulzana sadly broke down. Unperturbed by that incident, he stayed on well in the closing stages and had two lengths to spare over Azimuth at the line.
Although he has an absence of over two months to overcome, word is that he has been working very nicely on the gallops and will not be lacking for fitness. The handicapper does not appear to have been too unkind, giving him a rating of 88 and the stable are still in reasonable form, having recorded three winners in the past ten days. Coming out of stall seven, he should be able to get a good position early on, and overall he looks to have an excellent chance.
Uphold
There are a number of unexposed runners though and several dangers lurk, most notably the Barry Hills trained Uphold, who could well go off as favourite here. Out of Oasis Dream, he has a similar profile to that of Capital Attraction, having raced once as a juvenile, then making a winning reappearance this term. In fact, his performance this year was very eye-catching as he blew away the opposition in a maiden at Nottingham.
Having made all the running, he quickened in good style and came away with a seven-length verdict over Supa Seeker. He had clearly been showing up well at home, as he was the subject of a huge gamble that day, backed from an opening show of 7/1 down to as low as 3/1. As spectacular as that victory was, it is worth noting that the runner-up that day was a 200/1 shot and therefore the form may not amount to a great deal. However, he could hardly have been more impressive and the yard is in cracking form at present, having had 10 winners in the past fortnight.
Right Grand
Down at the bottom of the weights, the William Haggas trained Right Grand is capable of running well here. He ran twice as a two-year-old and looked very good when losing his maiden tag on his second outing, which came in a small race at Southwell. The manner in which he stayed on to beat Prince Yarraman by six lengths was very promising.
On his only run this season, he was far from disgraced when filling the runner-up spot behind Glen Shiel in a handicap at Newcastle. Held up in the early part of the race, he took a while to find his stride before keeping on well in the final furlong. He looks sure to have benefited for that run and an even better performance looks on the cards. Although the yard has an excellent record at this venue with a 20 per cent strike rate, they do seem to have gone a little quiet at present and a number of their fancied horses have disappointed, therefore he may not be one to take too short a price about.
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