Rising star of the weighing room Harry Davies is looking to follow in the footsteps of some of the biggest names in racing. He currently leads the Apprentice Jockeys Championship in 2022 and if he graduates from the Balding yard, he would join jockeys like William Buick, Oisin Murphy, David Probert and Jason Watson in winning that crown in recent years.
He certainly faces stiff opposition in Benoit de la Sayette though, who at the time of writing this post is only one win behind him. De la Sayette has had fewer rides but he usually picks up some of the best available given he rides a lot for the Gosden yard. All in all, it is going to be a fascinating tussle.
They both have a terrific book of rides on Thursday, so I have picked out four of their best chances to form a Lucky 15.
Benoit de la Sayette has several brilliant chances on Thursday but we can only choose two. Aphelios looks a likely winner but that’s reflected in the price. He has plenty in hand when scoring at Windsor and the rider offsets the 5lb hike in the weights.
Harry Davies’ first ride of the day is aboard Eight Of Diamonds for the Woods stable and this horse has every chance. A winner at Lingfield in April, he came from well off the pace to fail narrowly at Carlisle 10 days ago and a repeat could be enough.
Adjudicator got up right on the line when scoring at Sandown under this rider last time out, giving the impression there was plenty left in the tank. A 4lb rise seems fair and he should prove hard to beat again.
Davies’ other best ride on the card is probably the Charles Hills runner, Dream Show. This youngster produced a career best performance when dead heating at Newbury latest, but the rider’s claim offsets the 5lb rise in the weights.
If you back any of our selections you can watch them live on the free Racing Post app or racingpost.com. Simply log in to one of your bookmaker accounts and click ‘Watch live’ on the racecards.