4.57 Southwell – Yazin and Golden View clash in opener
A classy-looking Southwell Cardinal Conditions Stakes (4.57) sees the exciting pair of Yazin and Golden View headline a field of three in the opener at Southwell.
The John and Thady Gosden-trained Yazin stepped up on his debut to win nicely at Redcar in September before following up the following month in a Newmarket novice. The son New Bay stayed on powerfully over the 7f trip that day and should relish this extra distance, with the colt also gaining the assistance of Ryan Moore, who has only ridden at Southwell once in the last five years.
Golden View looks to be the chief threat for Charlie Appleby and William Buick. The Dubawi colt has a lovely pedigree and made an impressive racecourse debut by defeating Aqpan in a 7f novice at Kempton in December. That form has been franked, with the runner-up now rated 101, so he should be right in the mix here.
Oli Rix’s Intense Vision completes the trio, with the Expert Eye gelding set to make his debut for his new yard following two workmanlike wins in France.
6.30 Southwell – Marnier, Lady Ridgewood and New York Minute feature
A quality field of six has assembled for the 1m 3f Book The Bistro In Sherwood Restaurant Handicap (6.30), in which Marnier and Lady Ridgewood could well head the betting.
The Gosden-trained Marnier tops the weights under Rab Havlin and arrives on a bit of a retrieval mission after being well beaten on his return at Kempton 17 days ago. A ready winner of a Lingfield maiden last summer, the four-year-old may just benefit from that first outing here.
Lady Ridgewood managed to get off the mark on her final start for Peter Chapple-Hyam back in August and rates an intriguing contender on debut for Ian Williams, with the market likely to prove a good guide as to her winning chance.
New York Minute is a three-time winner on the all-weather, and the son of Wootton Bassett will attempt to rediscover some of that form back down in trip for trainer Joey Ramsden.
Of the remainder, Hayley Burton’s Yaa Min and the Saeed bin Suroor-trained Desert Shadow have both shown enough to suggest they can win at this level.
7.00 Southwell – Raspoutine bids to defy the penalty
Raspoutine bids to defy a winner’s penalty in the Come Racing For Free 18th June Handicap (7.00).
Sir Mark Prescott’s charge showed improved form to win on his handicap debut at Lingfield earlier this month and should go close under a 6lb penalty, with the top-weight possibly one to rack up a sequence if all goes well here.
Aneirin’s Sword certainly warrants respect for Osborne team, having showed a solid level of form off marks in and around his current rating (65), and connections have opted for first-time blinkers here in an attempt to eke out further progress.
Of the other four runners, Action Reaction could well do better now tackling handicaps for George Boughey, while fellow Middleham Park runner Lexington Express was only narrowly denied when attempting to follow up at Wolverhampton and so has to be feared for Messrs Botti and Ghiani.
