Flat Racing - Sunday 18th November

[robertob]

Some lovely racing from South Africa today as the 2nd day of the International Jockeys' Challenge gets under way. At The Races shows all the races from 12.10 on from Clairwood. Going is currently good to soft there, it's a left handed track and course form is important I feel. 12.10 Clairwood: Shes A Stunner @ 7/1 Bet365 Richard Hughes' mount goes well on softish ground and has crucial course and distance form. She is best weighted in this Pinnacle Stakes and has a few kilo in hand compared to some of the other fancied rivals in this race. She finished subsequently placed in Graded races earlier the year, with a clear stand out form, the fantastic 3rd place in the big Grade 1 South African Fillies Sprint at Scottsville. She comes out of a break which shouldn't be a problem as she ran well and won in the past as a fresh horse. 12.45 Clairwood: Albarakah @ 6/1 Bet365 Progressive and still lightly raced 4yo. He ran only over sprint distances so far, winning there three from his eight career starts. He was close beaten in his last two races over 1.200m and steps up to 1.600m now for the first time. He had earlier the year one try over 1.400, not very successful, this came after a four month break though and is a form to ignore. He has a very good chance to stay the trip according to his pedigree, as he is sired by Almushtarak who won over 1m in Group company and was also placed over further. Soft ground and first time left band are slight concerns but improvement is expected for the step up in distance and he could be potentially very well handicapped of a mark off 86. 13.20 Clairwood: Love Struck @ 7/4 William Hill He looks very hard to beat in this Listed race and vibes of the connections are very positive and confident as well. The horse has worked impressively in training according to trainer Lafferty and jockey Anton Marcus. He demolished a more or less decent field a few weeks ago by more than 6 lengths over 1.400m. He was entitled to so but still done the job so easily that he is expected to win comfortably in listed company today as well. He is lightly raced as well, can improve and his third place in the Grade 1 Premier's Champion Stakes over 1.600m this summer makes him the class act in this field. 13.55 Clairwood: Royal Galaxy @ 8/1 Sportingbet Another lightly raced sort, even though he's already a five year old. He had only seven starts so far and is on a hat-trick today after to good wins in lower classes. He clearly stays the distances of 2.000m and is 1/1 from here at Clairwood and won also on soft ground. This race here is more demanding than the last two ones and he has to defy a rise of 7 pounds in the mark but he's improving and improving and could be still capable of better.

[robertob]

Re: Flat Racing - Sunday 18th November Lovely Struck was a lovely winner indeed. Good horse. Done it well enough in the end. Royal Galaxy finished eye-catchingly well in 2nd place, just a bit too much to do from behind, but also good front-running ride on the eventual winner by Jimmy Fortune to be fair. Shes A Stunner was unfortunately pulled up early in the race, hope she's okay. Albarakah was a big drifter and run poorly.