Horse Racing: Soft ground suit O'Brien pair at Newmarket

RACING fan Gaurav Chaddah (@GauravChaddah) shares his best bets from Saturday's action.

2:20 Newmarket | Goodolphin Flying Start Zetland Stakes | ITV

Aidan O’Brien has won the last two runnings of this, including St Leger winner Kew Gardens back in 2017, and I think he can make it a hat-trick here with Mythical (4/1 Betfair).

O’Brien won the race with Norway last year, who won it off the back of breaking his median tag and the same applies for Mythical here, who won his median by an empathic nine lengths at Gowran towards the end of September. That was over a mile but he was doing his best work at the end, staying on strongly and the way he hit the line would suggest this step up to 10 should suit him perfectly, and being by Camelot, stamina should be assured.

The recent weather means there is plenty of juice in the ground, which shouldn’t be a problem as the going was soft when winning his median however there may be ground concerns for Volkan Star (10/3 Sky Bet) who is unraced on anything worse than good and Tritonic (6/1 Paddy Power) who was beaten when racing on soft ground.

Miss Yoda (4/1 Bet365) may provide the danger for the John Gosden and Frankie Dettori partnership who is two from twoand by Sea The Stars and she could see any bounds of improvement but again was a winner on good ground last time and soft is an unknown.

With ground being in his favour and Aidan O’Brien clearly targeting the race, Mythical is the one to beat, I feel.

2:55 Newmarket | Dubai Autumn Stakes | ITV

Molatham (9/4 William Hill) sets a good standard, winning the Flying Scotsman at Doncaster and comes here instead of the Dewhurst. He beat the Aidan O’Brien trained Wichita, who subsequently bolted up in a Group Three at Newmarket and is now second favourite for the Dewhurst.

That is strong form, as is his second to Mums Tipple at Ascot in July. He has done all his running on good to firm ground however and could be caught out here.

Al Suhail (9/2 William Hill) was third in the Solario last time but I’m still unconvinced by him and Kameko, who was second that day, was beaten next time out, whilst Cherokee Trail (13/2 Betfair) is improving all the time for John Gosden and is two from two.

However again, I’m happy to side with soft ground form and turn to Aidan O’Brien again, this time with Persia (5/1 Sky Bet), who broke is median tag at Galway on soft ground, winning by five lengths.

He will obviously have to step up again here to be involved but he is a son of Galileo and a lot will be expected of him, Aidan O’Brien ran Magna Grecia here last year after breaking his median tag and he was just beaten by the smart Persian King.

On bare form, he has a lot to find but he is very unexposed and will like the juice in the ground and I expect a big run.

2:40 York | Rockingham Stakes | ITV

I’ve been seriously impressed with Lampang (6/4 Coral) on both of his two starts, both of which he has won, and I think he’ll take all the beating here. He is short in the betting but it’s not difficult to see why and despite being a short price, he really should win this well.

His debut win at Carlisle was massively eye-catching, he missed the break and looked like he had no chance but appeared from the clouds after running very green at the start and quickened away very well to win.
The form of his debut win makes for good reading too, Panic room, the second, won next time out and the fourth Alben Spirit has also won since.

He was pulled out a couple of assignments due to ground issues but then took his chance at Ripon, which was another novice race, which wasn’t a surprise due to the greenness he showed on debut. He settled much better that day and won pretty much on the bridle and I think he won’t be for catching here.