Some decent action takes place at Haydock Park on Wednesday, with a bumper 10-race card at the Merseyside layout. Action gets underway at 1.10pm and concludes at 5.50pm. We’ve picked out some horses to follow on their busy card.
Don’t forget you can watch all the action from Haydock, as well as every race in the UK and Ireland, via live streaming when logged into MansionBet.
1:10PM – Waldkonig
The opening novice event over 1m2½f pits long-standing training rivals John Gosden and Sir Michael Stoute in what appears a match, with WALDKONIG and Highest Ground likely to have this race between them.
The former was surprisingly turned over on reappearance at Newmarket, stablemate Mishriff winning in good style 18 days ago. He was an odds-on chance that day after a very impressive debut at Wolverhampton in the depths of winter, but didn’t seem to handle the dip or the fast ground at HQ.
He’s probably got plenty more to offer and he also looked a little green on that return. He’s the one to beat here.
It won’t be straightforward with Ryan Moore’s mount Highest Ground an impressive winner on his only start last season at Leicester. By Frankel, he races in the Niarchos Family silks and is a certain improver this term.
A Royal Ascot winner may have eluded his trainer last week, but Stoute’s horses are generally running well and this could be a cracking duel to open the card.
1:40PM – Diamond Dougal
There’s a couple of decent handicaps on the card and the first is the 5f dash at 1.40pm where Acclaim The Nation (5/1*) heads the early betting after finishing second over C&D on reappearance. He’s a little unfortunate to be up 3lb in defeat, while fellow prominent race Benny And The Jets (11/1) is hit with a sizeable rise for his Kempton success this month.
Mountain Peak (third) was ahead of DIAMOND DOUGAL (fourth) on their seasonal return at Newmarket recently but that form may reverse here. Both are C&D winners but the former wants quick ground, while Silvestre De Sousa’s 6/1 chance will be favoured on the forecast going and is well-treated on the pick of his 2019 form with fitness now boosted.
3:10PM – Lacan
The former champion jockey rides 11/10 favourite LACAN in the 3.10pm contest and he’s got standout claims of a hat-trick following wins at Chelmsford and Kempton on the all-weather last week.
He dotted up under a 4lb penalty for the first of those and, with just another 4lb added today, is going to be hard to hold with the handicapper set to bump him up a further 9lb in due course.
The likes of Watheer and Sharrabang are the main rivals in the betting but both must cede race-fitness to the thriving nine-year-old today.
3:40PM High Flying Bird
The combination of Tom Dascombe and Richard Kingscote commands maximum respect at this venue and HIGH FLYING BIRD should outrun odds of 9/1 in the 1m-handicap due off at 3.40pm.
She opened her account on final start last season at Newmarket (7f, soft) and didn’t run a bad race when third on reappearance here this month (raced alone far side).
The winner has since given that form a boost when coming home clear second in the Britannia Stakes at Royal Ascot behind easy winner Khaloosy. There should be more to come from High Flying Bird, especially if racing amongst rivals again, and she’s fancied to go close getting weight from the field now.
Handicap debutant Brunch heads the betting for Michael Dods but must prove he can transfer good form on the all-weather to this code.
5:10PM – Indigo Lake
The final contest over a mile and a half is a fascinating one, with last-time-out course winner Midnights Legacy taking on Doncaster winner INDIGO LAKE; as well as the likes of Heart Reef and Cedar Cage with scope for improvement.
Martin Harley got a good tune from Alan King’s Midnights Legacy last time over 1m2f but they had little to spare, and a 7lb rise is tough now.
Frankel gelding Indigo Lake (7/2) may have more scope for the red-hot Gosden team on the back of that Town Moor win and gets the nod to make the 6lb he receives from his market rival count, with Rab Havlin taking over in the saddle this evening.
*All odds correct at time of writing
