Flat racing ~ Saturday 5th May

[Stevet1859]

3:10 Newmarket: Hermival 1pt e/w 25/1 Paddy Power (1/4 123) A disappointment and a four point loss that Dragon Pulse does not come over from France, however Mikel Delzangles is a trainer who strikes as someone who knows what he is doing and he relies on Hermival here. Hermival has only seen the racecourse twice, winning a maiden last backend over a mile, before putting up a very encouraging performance at Maisons-laffitte when not far behind French Fifteen and Abtaal. French Fifteen who lines up too, is already very smart having previously won a Listed race and then a Group One at Saint-cloud. Abtaal has been almost as impressive with a Group win to his name. For those that have run the Prix Djebel has probably been the best trial, so for Hermival to run third on only his second start is a fine effort. Having watched the replay he is held up out the back and then comes wide before coming through to be a clear third showing promise without being given an overly hard race. Hermival handles the softer conditions and he is by Dubawi an Irish 2000 Guineas winner and sire of Makfi who won this race for Mikel Delzangles. Every chance that Hermival could improve further. 3:45 Newmarket: Stepper Point 2pts win 20/1 Ladbrokes & Caledonia Lady 1pt win 18/1 Stan James With three year olds having a good record in this race, and with only two of them running, having an interest in both looks a good angle. Stepper Point in particular looks overpriced. As last seson progressed so did Stepper Point getting better and better and finishing off with a comfortable Listed race win at Longchamp on good to soft. When interviewed post race William Muir felt the penny had dropped with Stepper Point and his older horses could not go with him. The ground certainly won't be a problem as Stepper Point takes on his elders for the first time, and if he is ready to go, he could go close. Caledonia Lady probably ran her best race of last season on a softer surface when winning a Listed race at Ayr from Hexagonal. She ran pretty well at Bath last month, and while she will need to step up on that, there is every chance she might and that race proved Caledonia Lady has trained on. Joe Fanning does well (albeit from a small sample) when he rides for the yard.

[dannn17]

Re: Flat racing ~ Saturday 5th May 2.00 Newmarket, Memory Cloth at 6/1 (William Hill) Not the biggest fan of handicaps but this Horse runs from a nice mark in this race and will relish the soft ground. Won over a mile on soft ground at Ripon so will need to stay the extra furlong here but I’m 90% sure it will. Fury the current favourite is a talented Horse but I’m unsure whether it will stay or not and the mark its running off puts me off it big time. 2.30 Newmarket, Dunaden at 11/2 (William Hill) Interesting race really, the favourite Meandre came 6th in the Arc last season and if producing that form again should win this race but I can't see it improving on that performance and their will be question marks over whether it can produce that form here on the softer ground. Dunaden is a high class proven stayer over this distance and the ground should be fine, the odds I think are generous here.