The Scout's top picks for the week include Garden Oasis at Pontefract and Le Beau Garcon, with additional selections for Haydock and other meetings.
Pontefract Picks
Garden Oasis (3.45) is fancied to follow in the hoofprints of his stablemate in the RIU Hotels And Resorts Ladies Day Veterans' Handicap at Pontefract on Wednesday. Fellow Tim Easterby-saddled 11-year-old Poet's Dawn refused to be beaten, landing his third race on the bounce, at Ripon on Monday.
Garden Oasis would probably have liked to be competing there as it is the location for half of his 14 career wins in an 85-race career. However, he doesn't mind the 'Ponte' mile and it was the course and distance for his most recent victory a year ago under David Allan.
Now 8lb lower, Garden Oasis was just denied from his current rating 18 days ago and he is the obvious pace angle in this six-runner field for his title defence.
Le Beau Garcon Each-Way
Another Easterby horse, trained by father and son team Mick and David, will be a much longer price in the FBS Chartered Accountants Chaplins Club Handicap. That's because Le Beau Garcon's (4.15) form figures look a little uninspiring, but he was rated in the 80s a couple of years ago and is now down to 67.
He went well for almost four of the five furlongs at Beverley last time, when jockey Joanna Mason was caught in a pocket behind the leader Without Flaw, a horse she regularly rides. The winner Azuinthejungle is a progressive performer for the grade and I thought if Le Beau Garcon starts efficiently, he could sit in behind pacey type The Tunguska Event and run on to hit the frame or do even better at double-figure odds.
The likes of Sea Her Excel and Great have not done so well with the draw, while Betweenthesticks appears to have plateaued for his current yard.
Newmarket and Haydock
On Thursday, High Fibre will be a popular choice in Newmarket's Knight Frank Eastern Counties Handicap, after he surged to victory over jumps in a change of headgear at Market Rasen in mid-July. The visor stays on and going up to two miles should benefit him, but I'd rather find an alternative to a horse that only has one win to his name in Flat turf events and could be have bigger targets down the line.
Koala Rose (4.33) is at the other stage of her progression and was only just thwarted by Treble Nine, with the pair 12 lengths ahead of the rest, in a Goodwood maiden contest over 1m 6f. She then got a bit closer to invigorated performer Green Sky than High Fibre did at York on the hat-trick hero's previous outing and extra yardage can help Koala Rose get off the mark, getting plenty of weight.
Racing returns to Haydock on Friday, where the half-sister to Group One great Ombudsman, Syndicale (8.03), is in the Zyn Strong Stride EBF Fillies' Restricted Novice Stakes. Plenty went wrong on her Wolverhampton debut but she still managed to win and she holds an entry in next month's Group One Moyglare Stakes at the Curragh.
Syndicale is starting off at a good point as some of the unraced youngsters she could face have probably needed a bit of time and that first run should have taught her plenty.
Saturday Selections
If Halimede takes up her entry at either Redcar (4.57) or Lingfield (6.10) on Saturday, Sir Mark Prescott's trainee will be a strong fancy to double up as she scored snugly at Catterick on Tuesday when weak in the betting.
