Spacious can bloom in Dahlia Stakes at Newmarket
Plenty of people are left looking to the skies on a racecourse but if Michael Bell is seeking divine intervention it is simply to provide some rain.
The trainer has Sariska lined up for her first race of the season in the Group Three stanjames.com Dahlia Stakes at Newmarket on Sunday but has warned that the filly will not run unless there is sufficient ease in the ground.
Sariska looked a class act when she beat Midday by a head in the Oaks and then won the Irish Oaks with a contemptuous ease that is in no way reflected by the winning margin of three lengths. However, those wins came on easy ground and her Achilles’ heel was exposed on much a quicker surface when she was beaten three-quarters of a length in the Yorkshire Oaks in August.
Subsequent events show that losing to Dar Re Mi was hardly a humbling defeat but there is also a question over whether the drop to nine furlongs might also work against Sariska. With those doubts in mind, it may be better to side with Spacious.
This mare’s form does not always suggest that she is a model of consistency but she was only a half-length second in the 1000 Guineas two years ago and seems at her best over a mile.
It could be a double on the card for trainer James Fanshawe with Zidane in the bettingmadeeasy@stanjames.com Stakes. All of his six career wins have come over six furlongs, two on this course, and was only beaten by two lengths on his seasonal debut at Doncaster five weeks ago and has dropped 14lbs from his career-high handicap mark.
In the stanjames.com Stakes, Class Is Class looks the likely favourite but he does appear to have two ways of running and Dangerous Midge might still be improving despite an 11lb hike in the handicap for his win at Doncaster last month.
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