Brocklesby Stakes Tips & Betting Preview

4.30pm Betway Brocklesby Conditions Stakes (Plus 10 Race) Class Four – 5f 

Wow – a race of thirteen unraced two year olds to go thorough meaning all we really have will be the betting come race day, the breeding for now, and past records to go on – fingers crossed all round. The first thing we noticed was that trainer Bill Turner, hardly a household name has won this race five times in the last fourteen years, a stat head and shoulders above any others in the handling ranks. That suggests he targets the race deliberately and knows exactly the sort required, so we have to keep Crucial Moment on our short list for that reason alone. A £40,000 son of Pivotal out of a Nayef mare, his sire has a 35% strike rate with his two year olds which is pretty promising, and 45% at sprinting trips, all of which mean very little but are all we have to go on with this horse for now.

Having won the race last year we are more than happy to stick with Mark Johnston who sends The Last Lion here also looking to win at the first attempt. Word is that they think he is forward enough to run well making him a decent enough option, and as a half brother to multiple French Listed winner Contest, he is bred to be pretty smart. An 82,000 Euro price tag makes him one of the more expensive in this field but as we all know, that can mean everything or nothing, and we do see him as a dark horse here who could put up a very bold showing and hopefully win.

At this early stage we would be very surprised nee shocked were Create A Dream sent off favourite with American trainer Wesley Ward sending the filly over for her first race today, with Frankie Dettori in the saddle. He is well known for his sprinters with the likes of Acapulco and Undrafted last season, Hootenanny the season before, and we fully expect her to blast out of the stalls in her blinkers and make all from the start, playing catch me if you can.

Jockey Silvestre De Sousa won this race last year on board Ravenhoe for Mark Johnston, and is as good as they get in the saddle in our view, meaning Mick Channon’s Billy’s Boots needs to be considered as the jockey looks to double up in 2016. A son of the wonderfully named Winker Watson who was trained by Peter Chapple-Hyam, he is trained as we aid my Mick Channon, but was bred by Mike Channon Bloodstock Ltd and is owned by M Channon so if he wins, we all know who gets 100% of the credit! Lastly, with the Richard Fahey yard firing nice and early this season for some reason we need to consider Springwood as an option, and as a son of Zebedee there is every chance he will be precocious enough to run well here. He was pretty cheap at the sales (26,000 Guineas) which is a bit of a negative but other than that we don’t have a whole lot to add.

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