Friday's Preview (22nd August)

17:35 Goodwood 23 Aug 2019: 

Two horses of interest in the British E.B.F. Novice Stakes for 2-year-olds. The hot favourite I imagine will be the Charlie Appleby trained Volkan Star and rightly so. This Sea The Stars bay colt cost a cool 1,000,000 gns at the 2018 October Yearling sales. A pretty professional debut at Newmarket when travelling strongly throughout the race but was beaten by the unexpected winner Cepheus who is also highly regarded by trainer Brian Meehan. As for Volkan Star, this looks to be a stepping stone to bigger and better things. I imagine the step up in trip will bring out more improvement. The other horse of interest who could be each-way value is the Andrew Balding-trained Hold Fast. This Fastnet Rock filly made her debut here at the beginning of the month. Slowly away that day and looking very inexperienced, David Probert gave her a nice introduction and when the penny dropped she made steady progress. Stepping up in trip should bring some improvement and any market support will add a bit of confidence in what looks a nice race. 

14:15 Ffos Las 23 Aug 2019: 

Skontonovski is trained by Richard Spencer. This Harbour Watch colt made a pleasing debut at Newmarket at the beginning of August. Purchased for £50,000 in August 2018 and owned by Rebel Racing Premier. Skontonovski must have been working well before his debut because he started off 7/2 second favourite to the eventual winner Lazuli. This looked like a pretty nice race with the third-placed Ziggle Pops well-thought-of by Richard Hannon. Skontonovski was hampered at the start and checked when making his move a furlong out before running on again. Trainer Richard Spencer thinks very highly of Skontonovski and I expect a win won't be far away. Skontonovski was well-backed the other day at Windsor but was withdrawn. I may take an early price in case money comes in for him again. One negative is Richard Spencer hasn’t had the best 2-year-old season. 

14:05 Newmarket 23 Aug 2019: 

Two trackers of note here: 

Thread Of Silver.
Tomouh. 

15:15 Newmarket 23 Aug 2019: 

This looks above average race with a few big guns ready to be unleashed. A real tough call to pick the winner but I will note my trackers: 

Royal Crusade for the Charlie Appleby yard. This Shamardal homebred colt looks a nice type on paper and is highly regarded by Charlie Appleby who has given him a Group 1 and Group 2 entry. 

Impatient for the Ralph Beckett yard. The More Than Ready filly looked professional on debut at Kempton. Not the best draw and outpaced 3 furlongs out before staying on again the final furlong to close the gap on the nice Gosden winner Eshaasy. Should come on plenty for the experience and interested to see any market support for this nice looking filly. 

Great Image had an early entry for the Class 2 Peter Walwyn Stakes at Salisbury in June but didn't run. 

Good luck and thanks for reading.