Juliette's weekly frolic
An odds-on winner, a ' win-only ' third and a stayer that never started — but was greedily backed ante-post — are not the stuff of which great fortunes are made. However, the temptation to chuck it all in lasts only as long as the next gamble and you'll no doubt be delighted to learn that by Monday morning I had sufficiently recovered to be gleefully totting up the riches awaiting me this week. Greed apart, British racing has a very wealthy air to it in the days ahead, with five Group 3 and one Group 2 races before we even arrive at the Saturday cards. All naturally clamour for attention, but they were born In the wrong week and even the best must play second fiddle to the £40,000-added ' Eclipse.'
Never has a horserace attracted so much advance publicity as last year's running — the 'match of the century' hopefully featuring the Mill Reef; Brigadier Gerard clash. The build-up will earn that race a place in the history books, but the actual contest subsided into a tussle between the Brigadier and the torrential rain. On top of which only twenty-six horses turned out for the day's £63,000 prize money and the Eclipse actually provided the largest field — all of six runners. This time, however, the occasion's been played down, although the fields appear more promising all round. As far as the ' big one ' is concerned it all rests with the weather — Sharp Edge won't run unless it rains, while Roberto is unlikely to if it does. One of them will undoubtedly start a hot favourite but each has a slight flaw in his make-up which makes the cramped odds appear even more unattractive. Sharp Edge has never attempted the distance. Roberto has both attempted and won over it,
but never on a clockwise circuit like Kempton. A knotty problem, but not for me as I know perfectly well that come Saturday. I shall be totally unable to resist the dark charms of that luckless Ascot loser, Scottish Rifle. Black is beautiful, especially in a sheepskin noseband and for consistency's sake I'd better tip him as well.
Returning to Newmarket's midweek extravaganza on the July course, the hardest part is knowing which of many brainwaves should pass into print. Entrusting the entire week's 'outlay' to Jacinth in Thursday's Falmouth Stakes is no doubt the surest way to secure a 100 per cent record at the meeting, but you don't pay a tipstress for that kind of information and a more intriguing contest, where guidance could be called for, is the 6-furlong July Cup the same afternoon. The three-year-old milers, Thatch and Pitskelly, revert to sprinting here and both have convincing Royal Ascot victories to their name. But so, for that matter, has the year older Balliol whose Cork and Orrery, and early season Newmarket success, were both gained over this distance.
For the finale, how about a hot little number named Captain's Escort who my spies tell me Noel Muriess is likely to introduce in one of the week's 7-furlong twoyear-old contests? (Newmarket, Tuesday or Thursday, Sandown, Saturday.) And as an afterthought, Kambaida who has won two longdistance maiden events by a total of 18 lengths should find the graduation to three-year-old handicapping well within his powers. (Newmarket 3.35 Wednesday.)
Assets: £88.51. Outlay. £2 to win Scottish Rifle, Balliol, Captain's Escort and Kambalda.
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