The Scout has provided this week's top horse racing tips for Daily Express readers, with Andrew Balding tipped to take another £23,000 off Aidan O'Brien's lead in the trainers' championship with a double at Goodwood on Tuesday.
Goodwood and Kempton Selections
QUICKEN AWAY (2.05), a real eyecatcher on his Newbury last month, is fancied to go one place better in the British EBF Peter Willett Future Stayers' Maiden Stakes. The 500,000 guineas Frankel colt was a little slow into his stride but made excellent late headway in a race in which they accelerated from the front. Around five lengths down approaching the furlong pole, Quicken Away surged forward to close down another six-figure purchase, King High.
Only getting to grips with what was required late on, the Group Two Royal Lodge entrant should be hard to beat if benefiting from that experience.
OLD IS GOLD (5.00) is declared for the Virgin Bet Daily Price Boosts Handicap and a London Sprint Series Qualifier at Kempton on Wednesday. The sprinter has course experience at the West Sussex venue and went into the notebook when he blew the start and met traffic in a Sandown handicap, where it can often pay to be handy when races are front-loaded with pace.
Old Is Gold was again short of room in a valuable York contest at the Ebor Meeting, and if he gives himself a chance from the stalls, he has the ability to return to winning ways at six furlongs with the visor retained.
Bangor and Doncaster Fancies
Dan Skelton's Hidden Fortune is likely to be a warm order for Bangor's Paul Ferguson's Jumpers To Follow Novices' Hurdle, but I'll take her on with PROVISION (5.42). A four-year-old gelding, my selection is a scopey individual who has taken time to fill his frame but is not short of speed.
He overcame a bad blunder at Worcester's third last to win going away by 10 lengths in July, and the fifth Delgany Second Now, another from the Skelton stable, has run up a sequence since. This race is stronger with a couple of interesting horses in opposition, but Provision is likely to be a bit of value with trainer Barry Brennan taking on some of the bigger yards.
Doncaster's 250th St Leger Festival begins on Thursday, and a couple of early bets are to be had, with GOD GIVEN TALENT (1.50) backable at an each-way price of 12-1 for the Weatherbys 300,000 2-Y-O Stakes.
More St Leger Festival Bets
The juvenile carries the same Michael Buckley colours as Constitution Hill and has improved for the move to William Haggas and a bit of easier ground. God Given Talent had no luck in a York nursery and flew home to be beaten a length by Henley On Thames, and there is more potential to be unlocked.
A one-time Derby possibility, I've had SPYCE (2.25) in mind for later and lesser targets, and he is 10-1 for the Pertemps Network Handicap. The most expensive horse Alan King has sourced from the breeze-ups showed plenty of promise in his two-year-old season but seemed destined for longer trips as a close relation to a mile-and-a-half hero Parachute.
Spyce stayed on for fourth in the 1m 2f London Gold Cup at Newbury behind Lost Boys, while conceding weight to the front three. My pick found it happening a bit quickly for him against the same horse in the Golden Gates Stakes at Royal Ascot, but an 82-day break could have helped him mature, as he only made his debut in August of last year.
CONSENT (3.00), a 9-2 chance, has been prepared for another crack at the Group Two Betfred Park Hill Fillies' Stakes, after she was beaten a neck by Santorini Star last year. Sir Mark Prescott's trainee went on to emphatically turn around the form in the Qatar Prix de Royallieu at ParisLongchamp and she is only really getting going for the season.
Joint top of the ratings with Fairy Glen and Danielle, who she had back in fourth a year ago, Sir Mark Prescott's trainee is a great price with the ground in her favour.
