CATCH ME IF YA KEN
Kenya in hunt for glory at Newmarket
KENYA (nap) should be backed to give Aidan O’Brien a first victory in the bet365 Cambridgeshire (3.40, ITV4) at Newmarket today.
The son of Galileo already has one Cambridgeshire on his CV – he won the Irish version at the Curragh at the beginning of the month.
Given a 90-day break after returning last of 16 in the French Derby at Chantilly in June, Kenya excelled on his first try in handicaps, racing up with the pace before bursting clear to record a three-and-a-half-length supremacy over Katiymann.back to Pattern company for Seamie Heffernan’s mount then went the Group 2 Boomerang Stakes, finishing a thoroughly creditable second to Ballydoyle stablemate I Can Fly.
Competing from a BHA rating of 106 this afternoon, Kenya, who has proved he has the raw materials to prosper in a big-field handicap, must produce a personal best to rack up the Cambridgeshire double.
But, with just eight career starts under his belt, the three-year-old colt is open to further improvement and can take the £100k first prize back to Co Tipperary.
IT’S Cambridgeshire day at Newmarket and, as befits a contest first run in 1839, it’s a massive stats provider.
The most important in finding today’s hero are: Aged five or younger. Form in big-field races. Carrying 9st 4lb or less. Decent previous run. Having taken those trends into account we are down to only three from 35 contenders.
Danceteria travels like a superior handicapper and has performed as such this summer.
However, his relatively short price dictates we won’t be going for him — especially when there’s a rock-solid, well-drawn type like Stuart Williams’ VIA SERENDIPITY available at 28-1 with Coral (seven places).
At the other end of the experience scale is STYLEHUNTER, trained by John Gosden (above). The threeyear-old is an exciting prospect and ran a cracker in the Britannia at Ascot, so have 2pts win at 16-1 in places.