Fine Form
Damysus NM – 3.00
can play a starring role on day two of Newmarket’s Craven meeting with victory in the Earl of Sefton Stakes.
John and Thady Gosden’s colt was placed in the Sandown Classic Trial and the Dante at York last spring, but a tilt at Derby glory proved a step too far as he finished last of 18 runners in the premier Classic at Epsom.
However, while that step up to the elite level looked too much too soon for the son of Frankel, he showed his quality later in the season by scoring in Listed company in France before rounding off his campaign with victory over the Earl of Sefton course and distance in October’s Darley Stakes.
There should be more to come from Damysus as a four-year-old and he is expected to pick up where he left off.
It will be fascinating to see how the hugely promising Wareeth copes with a significant step up in class in the Feilden Stakes.
Archie Watson’s Sea The Stars colt made a fairly sensational debut on the all-weather at Newcastle last month, leaving his rivals trailing in his wake with a 14-length demolition job in the hands of Hollie Doyle.
It is difficult to know what that form is worth, but visually he could not have been more impressive and the Dante entrant has to be of interest in this early-season Derby trial.
Charlie Appleby regularly dominates this fixture and he will have high hopes of landing the Nell Gwyn Stakes with
Act Of Kindness NM – 3.35
A 3.7million guineas yearling purchase and a half-sister to Fillies’ Mile winner Ylang Ylang, plenty was expected of this three-year-old on her Rowley Mile introduction in September and although favourite backers had their fingers burned, there was plenty of encouragement to be taken from her third place finish.
She showed the benefit of that initial experience when rewarding those who kept the faith back at HQ the following month, opening her account with a bit to spare.
Act Of Kindness is interestingly not entered in the Betfred 1000 Guineas, but with Appleby not having an obvious candidate for the first fillies’ Classic of the season at this stage, there must be a chance Act Of Kindness can earn herself a late call-up with victory in this Group Three contest.
With remedial work taking place at Cheltenham, a quality National Hunt card originally scheduled to take place at Prestbury Park has been switched to Haydock – and there is a Cheltenham Festival winner in action in the shape of White Noise.
The six-year-old was a surprise winner of the Mares’ Novices’ Hurdle last month, but there did not appear to be any fluke about her performance and she is now four from six over hurdles.
She has to carry a penalty dropping back to Listed class, but she is expected to prove up to the task.
Plenty of familiar names line up for the feature race of the afternoon, the Grade Two Unibet Silver Trophy Handicap Chase, and the change of venue can only be seen as a positive for the Paul Nicholls-trained
Outlaw Peter HY – 2.40
Haydock has become something of a specialist track in recent years and this 10-year-old certainly looked to relish the Merseyside turf when winning a valuable veterans’ chase here recently when sporting cheekpieces for the first time.
It is a fairly quick turnaround, but if the headgear has the same effect at the second time of asking, a 6lb rise does not look insurmountable.
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