Richard Hannon has the x-factor at Ascot
Few trainers can match Richard Hannon’s enthusiasm for racing and fewer still can keep up with his present form.
A 24% strike-rate for April shows the wellbeing of his yard and it can be added to at Ascot today. Blue Angel has not done much for the statistics in her last four runs but she can put that right in the X Factor Stakes.
The Oratorio filly was campaigned in some rather decent company last season and her final run, where she was four-and-a-quarter lengths sixth to Hibaayeb in the Group One Meon Valley Stud Fillies' Mile, looks smart enough at this level. The main opposition should be the Henry Cecil-trained Aviate, who herself looked a useful prospect when she won her maiden at Kempton Park last November.
Entries for races of the calibre of the Oaks and Coronation Stakes drop the hint that she might be well thought of but the fact that Cecil has a 6% strike-rate this month also drops a heavy suggestion that his horses have been needing their first run this season.
If Hannon's overall form is good the juvenile division are little short of sensational. A 50% strike-rate defies argument and it will be surprising if there is anything that can defy Zebedee from springing into action in the Aldermore Conditions Stakes.
The colt travelled really well when he made his debut at Windsor, looks the type to improve, should have little trouble in conceding the 3lb penalty that he must carry for that win and should be able to confirm the form with Straight Line, who was beaten six-and-three-quarter lengths.
At the other end of the scale from a five-furlong juvenile race is the Group Three Moss Bros Sagaro Stakes, run over two miles and named after the triple Gold Cup winner of the 1970s.
Whether one of this field will be the successor to Yeats' crown at this year's royal meeting will have to be seen but they provide for an interesting contest here. Victories in last season's Lonsdale and Doncaster Cups give Askar Tau the edge in terms of form but the 5lbs penalty he receives for those labours mutes his appeal somewhat, while Akmal's run at Newbury 11 days ago, albeit over an inadequate trip, raises doubts about whether he came be back to his best form so soon.
Yes Mr President's best form thus far may not be quite good enough but he is an improving type in the mould of many of Mark Johnston's older runners. He hacked up in a Ffos Las handicap three weeks ago, off a mark of 100, and the fact the trainer is ready to promote him straight to Group class has to be noted.
Backing a horse who has not won for over 18 months may seem like a quick route to penury, but Cityscape can improve upon that record in the Listed Britain´s Got Talent Paradise Stakes.
A good second in the 2008 Royal Lodge Stakes, on his final start as a two-year-old,
Cityscape was then second in the Greenham Stakes on his three-year-old debut and was quietly fancied for the 2000 Guineas.
It all went wrong in that race and he was off the track until running in a handicap at Newbury 11 days ago. He was beaten two-and-a-half lengths in fourth but that does not tell anything like the whole story as he got a very bad run and was finishing best of all.
He already has a couple of Group One entries and this should be a stepping stone to one of those.
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