RIO TO SAIL IN AT NEWBURY:
The feature race on Newbury’s card is the Rose Bowl Stakes at 3.10pm with eight smart two-year-olds set to go to post. Richard Hannon trains the probable favourite for this in Cape To Rio, and this well bred son of Captain Rio has an outstanding chance of victory in this Listed event. He began his racing career back in April in a modest maiden at Folkestone where he made a huge impression when coming home a very easy winner. Having been an 8/1 shot, it seems that he is clearly better than connections first thought.
For his second start, the Hannon stable decided to move him up in class, to contest a Listed race at Windsor. Word had soon reached the track that he had improved significantly for his debut run and backers plunged onto the horse at any price they could get. The bookies ran for cover amidst the flurry of cash, but eager punters were snapping up even the prohibited odds of 1/4. As for the race itself, victory never looked in doubt as his jockey Richard Hughes produced him with a perfectly timed run to beat Scarlet Rocks comfortably by a length.
Having made such an excellent start to his racing life, it must go down as slightly disappointing that he was unable to make it a hat trick of wins on his final outing. Sent off the 11/8 favourite for the National Stakes at Sandown, he appeared to struggle for much of the race before staying on in the closing stages to snatch third place behind the impressive winner Dinkum Diamond. However, it later transpired that connections felt the distance of five furlongs was too short and therefore this extra furlong should prove ideal.
It’s worth noting that Richard Hannon won this race last season with Duplicity and therefore his other entrant in this race, Bahceli, should not be ignored. This son of Mujadil has had two starts so far, winning on both occasions. He made his debut in a decent Pontefract maiden where he showed a good turn of foot to quicken away in the final furlong, beating Hortensia by a length and a half. That was a good performance though better was to come next time out in a novice event at York. Although there were only five runners, what the race lacked in quantity, it made up for in quality. Still looking inexperienced, Bahceli had to work very hard before gaining the upper hand in the final strides, beating Cocktail Charlie by a head. That was over a distance of five furlongs and like his stable mate, he looks sure to appreciate this extra furlong.
Richard Fahey continues to have his runners in very good form, and he runs the highly regarded Sir Reginald. Lightly raced this colt by Compton Place made his first racecourse appearance in a very hot maiden at York where he finished runner-up to the very smart Elzaam. Trained by Michael Jarvis Elzaam has since gone on to finish second in the Coventry stakes at Royal Ascot, which makes Sir Reginald’s debut all the more noteworthy. He put that experience to good use next time when easily accounting for Rojo Boy and as that was only his second run, he is fully expected to improve again. This certainly represents a step up in grade but the jockey booking of Keiron Fallon definitely catches the eye and a big run could be on the cards. He will have no problem with this trip either as both of his runs have come over six furlongs. However, he is going to have to be at the top of his game to beat Cape To Rio who already has the form in the book to win this.
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