Fire King looks hot at Brighton
The Andrew Haynes-trained Fire King clearly enjoys his trips to the South coast from his residence in Bath, having won here last time out, and claiming the runner-up position on his two previous visits. He looks more than capable of improving on that record when he tackles the Totesuper7 Handicap at 4.00pm on Thursday.
His performance over this course and distance last time was undoubtedly his best of the season. Having looked a bit keen early on, he soon settled in behind the pace before coming through to lead inside the final furlong under a perfectly timed challenge from his jockey Neil Callan. Under a hands and heels ride, he comfortably accounted for Motty’s Gift by just over a length, with Inquisitress, who reopposes here, a further three lengths away in third.
The handicapper has raised him six pounds for that victory which seems quite fair given the authority by which he won that day. His opponents here are very much exposed and many of them appear out of form at present. Therefore, this looks an ideal opportunity to follow up that recent success.
Phluke
The most obvious danger is the top weight Phluke, trained by Eve Johnson Houghton and ridden by the young apprentice rider Amy Scott, who is able to claim seven pounds, which will help the nine-year-old gelding’s cause. Looking at recent efforts, he needs all the help he can get, as it has now been more than two years since his last taste of success.
That came in a decent handicap at Warwick, where he ran on well to beat Prince Of Thebes by half a length. At that point, in his career he had a rating of 80 so running here off a mark of 60, shows that he is a very well handicapped horse at his best. Unfortunately, he has failed to achieve anything like that level of form for some while, although his effort at this track last time was a bit more encouraging.
He showed up well for most of the way, before keeping on at one pace behind Eager To Bow in a seven furlong handicap back in June. The handicapper has dropped him a further pound in the weights, but that does not look nearly enough to beat an in form Fire King.
Prince Valentine
Prince Valentine may as well live at Brighton. From 81 career starts, he has run at this track an amazing 43 times, winning on four occasions. His current form is not particularly outstanding and his sole victory this year came in a very low-grade handicap at Kempton. On his most recent outing, he finished some six lengths adrift of Fire King, coming home in fourth place and there does not appear to be any reason why he should reverse that form here.
Inquisitress
As previously mentioned Inquisitress also ran in that race and would need to show remarkable improvement to reverse placings with Fire King. The six-year-old mare has in fact raced again since that day, where she contested a ten-furlong handicap on the all weather surface at Lingfield. It was not a particularly good race though and it was rather disappointing to see her drop away so tamely, to finish eighth behind Fitzolini.
One thing she does have in her favour is a recent course and distance victory, which came at the beginning of July. On that occasion, she actually finished in front of Fire King, who had looked all over the winner with a furlong to race. Strictly, on the book, there should be little between them at these weights, although Fire King looks to be on an upward curve and he will surely take the world of beating.
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