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| Winning Hand - Baccarat can end Richard Fahey's Great St. Wilfrid duck |
It’s not often however that you really get chance to preview a big race from the course, but with Ripon’s showpiece race of the season coming up this Saturday the opportunity has arisen.
The Great St. Wilfrid has a huge £70,000 of prize money on offer this year and as a result has attracted a monster list of entries including some thriving, high class animals.
Photos of past winners of the race adorn the walls of the bar at the course, and trying to pick out who will be joining them is never easy, however this time around a horse is entered that could end up being a lot better than this race in time.
Incredibly, top Yorkshire trainer Richard Fahey has never won Ripon’s feature race of the season but in Baccarat he looks to have an ace up his sleeve.
The lightly raced four-year-old by Dutch Art deadheated over course and distance back in April, with the two winners pulling sixth lengths clear of a decent field.
He was raised 10lb for that success and followed up with a respectable effort in the Buckingham Palace at Royal Ascot. Heavily supported on his most recent start in the Sky Bet Dash at York, he all but blew his chance at the start when breaking slowly, he was then unlucky in-running having to scamper over the prone Amy Ryan who had come off Bogart, before coming home fast and late to grab sixth.
There was enough encouragement from that run to suggest that if can break quicker this time around, and get the breaks in running that are so crucial to landing one of these big sprints, that he can go a lot closer running off the same mark.
The trainer has said that he wouldn’t want the ground too fast, although his last two runs have both been on good to firm so unless it got incredibly quick I wouldn’t have thought it would pose too much of an issue.
Fahey also moved to just temper enthusiasm for Baccarat’s bid for the Great St. Wilfrid slightly by suggesting that the track hadn’t suited his charge totally on his last visit, stating he thought the Ripon camber had unbalanced his horse a little.
Ripon is very much a horses for courses type of track though in my opinion and I think that experience earlier in the season can surely only aid in his quest on Saturday.
Baccarat is very much a horse on the upgrade, he has strong form to his name already and thanks to that somewhat luckless run at York last time out he still looks ahead of his mark to me.
The Great St. Wilfrid is a competitive race as always but Baccarat looks a worthy favourite in my opinion and should take all the beating if getting the rub of the green.
Should the favourite be out of luck again or fail to fire there are plenty of dangers lurking in what looks a fierce renewal.
David O’Meara has to be respected given that he’s sent Pepper Lane out to victory in this race for the last two years. The Nawton-based trainer has three potential arrows to fire in his bid to record a third consecutive win in the race including Dick Bos and Louis The Pious towards the head of the market.
Powerful Presence rounds out the O’Meara brigade but it is course and distance winner Dick Bos that is feared most. Just behind Baccarat in the aforementioned Sky Bet Dash Dick Bos had previously contested two of Ireland’s most valuable, and thus competitive, handicap sprints including a good fourth behind Burn The Boats in the Paddy Power Sprint.
Like Baccarat he has that valuable recent course form and should again give a bold account, also still off the same mark he contested the Sky Bet Dash off.
Louis The Pious has been a good servant and comes here off the back of a good run in the Stewards’ Cup when seventh. He has the ability to go well again and was third in this last year for a yard that clearly know how to get them ready for the race.
Michael Dods’ Spinatrix took the same course and distance handicap that Pepper Lane used as a springboard for this race last year last time out and has course form that reads 1232311. His trainer’s horses always seem to run well at Ripon and the excellent Connor Beasley takes a valuable 5lbs off.
Spinatrix looks a very solid each-way proposition based on his record at the course.
Of the remainder it is the two old favourites in the line-up that catch the eye most, old Bordlescott a horse that was twice a Nunthorpe winner and 2011 Stewards’ Cup hero Hoof It.
The latter is winless since that impressive weight-carrying win at Goodwood and clearly hasn’t been in the same heart the two seasons since, however it would be no surprise to see him go well here over a distance that I feel is his optimum.
Sentimentality will probably get the better of me and I’ll end up having a little each-way investment on Mick Easterby’s star but I do think that up against Baccarat everyone could have their work cut out for them.
7/1 is not exactly a great each-way price but in a ferocious sprint handicap it is probably the smart play given that even a place finish for the selection would generate a small profit.
A bold, exciting bet he may not be, but I’m hoping that Baccarat can turn in a performance to really capture the wider racing community’s imagination on Saturday and in turn highlight Ripon and showcase Yorkshire’s Garden Racecourse.
Selected Best Odds:
Baccarat 7/1
Dick Bos 12/1
Spinatrix 12/1
Gabbiano 14/1
Louis The Pious 14/1
Lucky Beggar 14/1
Pearl Ice 14/1
Brazen 16/1
El Viento 16/1
Hoof It 16/1
Love Island 16/1
Secret Witness 16/1
Singeur 16/1
Summerinthecity 16/1
Captain Ramius 20/1
Chooseday 20/1
Hopes N Dreams 20/1
Nameitwhatyoulike 20/1
Prodigality 20/1
Al Khan 25/1
Head Space 25/1
Borderlescott 33/1
Recommendation:
Baccarat 0.5pt each-way @ 7/1 (Bet Victor, Stan James, William Hill)
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