Hopeful Stakes Tips & Betting Preview

Not a lot to go on statistically here with only Dean Ivory winning it twice in the last ten years (with Tropics both times), and he isn’t back this year so that’s no use to us! Although three year olds don’t have the best of records in this race with just the one winner in the last decade, William Haggas will hope to add to their record with Raucous (5/1) who has won two of his nine starts so far but better still was his third to The Tin Man in the Group Three Hackwood Stakes at Newbury and his third to Dancing Star in the competitive Stewards Cup at Glorious Goodwood. That may not be winning form but it is rock solid in the context of this race and makes him the number one contender in our book and the horse we are happy to put our money on this afternoon with Pat Cosgrave in the saddle for what we hope turns out to be little more than a steering job.

Richard Fahey looks as if he will rely on two here and Eastern Impact (3/1) heads the betting with an official rating of 110 the five-year-old looks to have as good a chance as any. Last time out the Bahamian Bounty gelding was a superb second to Toscanini at The Curragh in the Group Three Phoenix Sprint Stakes earlier this month and with a Group Three win on his CV as well as a four and a half length sixth to Limato in the Group One July Cup he may well try to make the most of this drop in class and win his seventh race this afternoon, adding to the quarter of a million pounds in prize money he has already banked for connections, though we see a place as a lot more likely.

With only the one last time out winner declared, our race preview needs to at least mention Marco Botti’s Naadirr (13/2) who took a Class Three Conditions Stakes at Doncaster over this six furlong trip by a comfortable length at the end of last month though obviously this is a step up in class. The five-year-old son of Oasis Dream has competed at this level before though without success but this is not looking to be the strongest Listed race ever seen and in his current fork he certainly has an each way chance.

Baccarat (7/2) sits near the top of the betting for trainer Charlie Appleby and jockey James Doyle but he was only third last time out at Ripon in a Class Two handicap and may find this a little tougher. Admittedly that was a competitive twenty runner event, and he did give nine pounds and sixteen pounds to the pair who finished in front of him, but he is yet to win in this sort of class after twenty-two career starts and we doubt that record is broken this afternoon.

Why punters see Mayfair Lady (11/1) as the Fahey second string is unusual with stable jockey Tony Hamilton in the saddle, and she shows plenty of speed when needed and would have a solid chance if she can recapture her very best form, though there is a school of thought that she goers best fresh and it may be worth waiting for her to return from a break before parting with any each way money.