3 minute read
Best Bets for a huge day of racing at Ascot this Saturday.
Ascot plays host to a number of 'Pinnacles Pointers' this weekend as the racing really begins to heat up out west.
The track is currently rated a Soft 5 with plenty of irrigation being applied to the track in the past week, but with fine weather leading into Saturday we'll be racing on a beautiful surface.
There's a slight chance of rain on race day, though it doesn't appear enough to think we'll be on a deteriorating surface this weekend.
The first of the feature events comes up as race six on the card, the Placid Ark Prelude for the three-year-old's.
Last week, I made the point of saying how difficult it was for a horse to go from Maiden grade to a higher level using September Born as the example.
This weekend in the Prelude, it looks an almost identical copy with Wind And The Lion up against Sinful Living.
Wind And The Lion is the fresh horse on the scene who was a dominant maiden winner through the winter months at Belmont.
The time was kind to him there and he ran away with the race late in a performance that just oozed upside.
He ran to a Racing and Sports rating of 88 on that occasion, some 14 points lower than the highest rated horse in the race Sinful Living.
Wind And The Lion will have to improve more than September Born did last week to be getting past Sinful Living, who will be racing on the speed for William Pike.
Sinful Living kept on well in the Max Simmonds when jumping from a wide draw and she wasn't disgraced when taking on the older horses a fortnight ago.
This looks a great recipe for her as she's rock hard fit (and tough) up front and likely to run to a figure of around 100 - which she has done before, while Wind And The Lion will be somewhere back in the run looking to gun her down with uncertainty around whether he can match that mark or not.
Looking to another feature on the card for my Best Bet, coming up in race eight the Asian Beau Stakes.
Dan Morton's Karrakatta Plate winning mare SUPER SMINK is not only back to her best, but in career best form as she posted a new peak rating last time out in the Eurythmic Stakes.
Her first-up effort suggested she was back with a bang, before the Eurythmic confirmed the rating, running to 110+ with Racing and Sports, the best figure of her career thus far.
She's been hurt by wide barriers and forced to go back from those draws, while on Saturday she's beautifully placed third-up and at the peak of her powers. Chris Parnham reunites with the mare and there's nothing worth running scared of in this year's edition.
W.A Guineas winner Zipaway is back in town and first-up and while he was good fresh over 1400m at Caulfield last campaign, he'd have to run up to his Guineas-winning rating to match what Super Smink produced last time out.
She gets her chance to end her winning drought of just over a year and if she can build on what she's done thus far as the sectionals say she can, Super Smink can give The Pinnacles a big shake in the coming months.
As for the Next Best on the card, I'm thinking SNOWDOME can run a bold race on resumption in the Prince Of Wales Stakes (race seven).
He resumes a gelding for the Neville Parnham barn and has always been a horse with some hype about him.
Snowdome was a first-up winner of this race 12 months ago and while he didn't come up last campaign, the market still anticipated he would produce something like his best,
While he comes into this race without a trial, he did the exact same thing last year when beating a number of these rivals.
Saloon Bar, Boots Like Bruce and Bravo Centurion are all fresh horses on the scene, though the win of Snowdome in this race last year rates right up to their career peaks.
Now a gelding and with his mind on the job, I think we can see Snowdome back to his best and the price on offer is good enough to find out.
The Best From The West
Best Bet: Race 8 #2 SUPER SMINK @ $3*
Next Best: Race 7 #4 SNOWDOME @ $5.50*
Also backing: Race 9 #3 ESPRIT GARCON @ $4*
*Prices correct as of 1:30pm, October 31.