A bonanza from the Midlands on Tuesday, Oct 24th – NINE races on Wolverhampton’s Tapeta all-weather surface.
Action takes place between 16.25 and 20.30 for a competitive twilight/evening card. Rossa Ryan, Billy Loughnane, and Hollie Doyle are here – and that’s just in the first race!
Add Probert, Buick, Marquand – what a cracking line-up of some of racing’s very best.
18.00 – Intoxicata @ 2/1
A 7f Class 6 handicap, for 3-yr-olds and upwards. Modest midweek all-weather fare, but likely to be highly competitive.
My selection Intoxicata represents trainer Ed Dunlop, and the daughter of US Navy Flag gets the red-hot Rossa Ryan up top for the first time. The brilliant champion apprentice Billy Loughnane was on board at Newcastle last time in this grade over a mile, and after a prominent attempt to make most she gave best only in the latter stages.
On that evidence she’s in form, and well worth a try down at 7f on this much tighter track than the yawning straight that is Newcastle. She’s drawn 10, not ideal, but our jockey is used to finding a way to win – over 100 times this season in fact.
Intoxicata won off a mark of 46 in the summer at Lingfield, and after a rather barren spell afterwards has found some form of late. Prior to that fine Newcastle effort she finished second at Chelmsford over a mile, and I think her turn is very close for career win number two, off 48 today.
Rossa has the draw conundrum to solve, but it’s not as pronounced a drawback as it would be over 5f, or 6f.
18.30 – Winterfair @ 6/1
Another of the game’s very best jockeys is doing the steering on my second selection – namely Tom Marquand, on Winterfair. 2-yr-old babies this time, and the selection has had one racecourse appearance so far, at Sandown around 5 weeks ago.
The daughter of Kitten’s Joy ran a blinder, full of promise, finishing well in a close-up fifth. Tom was on board again for trainer William Haggas, with whom he has such a fruitful partnership.
A Godolphin inmate will probably head the market but given his winner’s penalty and Winterfair’s fairer sex allowance, she’s getting a stonking 12lbs from Age Of Time. He’ll need to be pretty smart to concede that.
