TAQUIN DE SEUIL looked a very exciting prospect when he won the JLT at the Cheltenham Festival in March, staying on well to beat the talented Uxizandre and the reliable Double Ross, he re-opposes today. On his seasonal reappearance, he ran no sort of a race at Newton Abbot, beaten a country mile. His second run of the season was far more promising, when filling the runners up spot in the Charlie Hall at Wetherby. You got the sense from that run that he was coming back to his best so he could well be nicely tuned up for this. The softer ground is well up his street; he has good form on it and the jockey booking of Barry Geraghty is positive. You would also have to put Taquin De Seuil's Wetherby conqueror MENORAH firmly into the equation. He won very nicely that day and with the form his trainer and jockey are in, you certainly cannot discount him.
 |
| Menorah (foreground) and Taquin De Seuil (red and green) |
Cue Card won this last year on the back of a prep run in the Haldon Gold Cup but he was only beaten 6 lengths last year whereas he was beaten 15-odd lengths this year. The only time he was beaten further was in the 2012 King George, where he was beaten 20 lengths. But bear in mind that run was on heavy ground and over nearly a mile further. To me, his recent Exeter run was not a good one and although he will improve for the run, he will have to improve A LOT to win this. Dynaste will probably be better for the run whilst Silviniaco Conti looks the main danger; he too should come on for his Charlie Hall fifth. Harry Topper has a lot of things in his favour, including ground, distance and seasonal reappearance but he may not be good enough against some of these. Double Ross is consistent but may be out of his depth a little, The Giant Bolster only really seems to come alive at Cheltenham and I'm surprised to see Medermit running in this and not a big handicap, such as the Hennessy.
Enjoy the big race and enjoy your Saturday
Happy Punting!
No comments:
Post a Comment