Neil Morrice shares all of his best bets and tips for Thursday's racing coming your way from Day 1 of the Doncaster St Leger Festival, as well as the best of the rest from Ffos Las, Epsom Downs and Chelmsford City on 14 September 2023.
DONCASTER ST LEGER FESTIVAL DAY 1 BEST BETS THURSDAY
Race 3 No3 JOHANNES BRAHMS
Trainer: Aidan O’Brien – Jockey: Ryan Moore
Dragon Leader completed a hat-trick in great style at York to remain unbeaten and could have more in the locker, but though having to concede 10lb to his foe JOHANNES BRAHMS is narrowly preferred. The Coolmore runner has black type to his name from a near miss in the Windsor Castle Stakes and found only Lake Forest his superior in the Group 2 Gimcrack Stakes at York. He has a classy look now tried in this valuable Sales race, and can convert.
Race 4 BETFRED MAY HILL STAKES (Group 2)
No6 MERIBELLA
Trainer: Ralph Beckett – Jockey: Rob Hornby
Too Darn Hot has made a super start at stud and his representative DARNATION sets a high standard for her foes to aim at. She produced a smart turn of foot to take out the Group 3 Prestige at Goodwood and is clearly right at home on the forecast soft ground. ROMANOVA impressed with a wide margin first career triumph at Salisbury for rookie handler Ollie Sangster. The Golden Horn filly now takes a jump up the class ladder but could easily have more to give moved up to a mile, and needs respecting. Sea The Stars filly SEE THE FIRE has also made a good start to her career, and looked to have plenty up her sleeve pulling clear of her opponents when hitting the rising ground at Newmarket. A pea out of the same pod is the Ralph Beckett-trained MERIBELLA who shares that sire. She also opened her account at Newmarket, and though the form was devalued when runner-up Lady Pagasa flopped last week the selection has been giving out very good signals in her homework.
Prediction: 1st MERIBELLA, 2nd Darnation, 3rd See The Fire, 4th Romanova
Race 5 BETFRED PARK HILL FILLIES’ STAKES (Group 2)
No6 SUMO SAM
Trainer: Paul Cole – Jockey: Rossa Ryan
In a relatively weak renewal of this historic race for staying fillies SUMO SAM brings easily the best recent credentials to the table. The Nathaniel filly made a mockery of her elevated price when making hacks of her rivals in the Lillie Langtry at Goodwood to show that following the sidelining of Royal Scotsman she is the flagship of her veteran handler’s operation. That race was run in monsoon conditions, and Sumo Sam will be right at home on this easy going.
Geoffrey Freer Stakes runner-up CHING SHIH has good form against males and will surely be more comfortable back against her own sex, while also interesting is NIGHT SPARKLE on a first outing for Andrew Balding after assembling a four-race winning sequence when based in Ireland.
Prediction: 1st SUMO SAM, 2nd Night Sparkle, 3rd Ching Shih
Race 7 No9 EL JASOR (Nap)
Trainer: Charlie Fellowes – Jockey: Jamie Spencer
EL JASOR benefitted from a classic waiting ride from her jockey to score snugly though by a narrow margin at Newbury. The son of Le Havre took his time to warm to the task, but when reaching top gear looked impressive. His trainer adds cheek pieces and in a bid to make this a third success from his last four outings it wouldn’t come as a surprise to see support for the selection.
Race 8 No4 SPANISH BLAZE
Trainer: Marcus Tregoning – Jockey: Trevor Whelan
SPANISH BLAZE further bolstered the reputation of his sire Phoenix Of Spain when scoring at Sandown earlier in the month. His clear cut triumph on nursery debut was that of a colt with more under the bonnet, and he can find that extra today to thwart the equally promising Haydock scorer Mafnood.
