Gosden putting on the style
Trainer’s colt is best bet for success at Newmarket
John Gosden fires three arrows at the £160,000 Bet365 Cambridgeshire at Newmarket and it is Stylehunter who is taken to prevail in the first leg of the Autumn Double.
Stablemates Wissahickon and Tricorn sit much further uptheweightsthanstylehunter, who has a handy 5lb threeyear-old allowance.
He was last seen running out a cosy winner of a Goodwood handicap, overcoming a tardy start to claim a four-length verdict with the minimum of fuss.
Stylehunter had previously finished a close-up sixth in the Britannia at Royal Ascot, when he looked all over a Cambridgeshire contender, given the way he finished.
Gosden has sent out three previous winners of this ninefurlong feature and it would be no surprise if Stylehunter could trump likely stable first string Wissahickon.
Pretty Pollyanna and Signora Cabello face off again in the Juddmonte Cheveley Park Stakes and there seems no real reason to suggest there will be any change from the Prix Morny result in August.
The Michael Bell-trained Pretty Pollyanna has clearly made huge strides through the summer, graduating from a fifth-place finish at Royal Ascot to a wide-margin success in the Duchess of Cambridge Stakes here in July.
That was an admittedly unsatisfactory race as it all got a bit rough in the finish, but Pretty Pollyanna subsequently proved it was not just good fortune that saw her triumph as she went on to a toplevel success in France. She beat Signora Cabello fair and square at Deauville and with the two racing off the same terms, there is little to recommend a reversal.
Ten Sovereigns looked the part in winning both his racecourse starts so far and can continue his meteoric rise in the Juddmonte Middle Park Stakes. He made an impressive debut when scoring by seven lengths at the Curragh at the end of August before making a seamless transition to Group Three company just a week later. He barely came out of third gear that day and looks a worthy favourite.
Arthur Kitt chased home Too Darn Hot in the Solario last time and, with that one dominating the ante-post thinking on the Classic front, that looks a decent slice of form.
Previously a winner at Royal Ascot, Arthur Kitt was tapped for toe against a superior rival but lost little in defeat and a switch up to a mile in the Juddmonte Royal Lodge Stakes might be a good shout.
At Musselburgh’s meeting tomorrow, Crotchet can feel the full benefit of jockey Connor Murtagh’s 5lb allowance in the Irish Stallion Farms EBF Scottish Premier Fillies’ Handicap.
The three-year-old’s mark has been on the rise of late as she has been running well enough, with a victory at the East Lothian track last month the high point of her year.
Eked up 3lb by the handicapper for that success, Crotchet fell half a length short back at the same course last time, with her mark subsequently left unchanged on 85.
However, Murtagh’s claim puts her right back in the mix here, though, and the way she kept on over seven furlongs that day suggests this step up to a mile should be well within her compass.