Cot Campbell looks the biggest certainty on today’s Kenilworth card but the bookmakers are already acknowledging the fact and have priced him accordingly.
The R3.3 million purchase – by Trippi out of triple Grade 1 winner Ebony Flyer – opened at 9-10 with World Sports Betting on Sunday but he was as short as 9-20 by lunchtime yesterday.
Andre Nel and Aldo Domeyer (Supplied)
On the form book he is home and hosed after two really good runs. His reputation preceded him first time out in April and he started odds-on only to lose six lengths at the off. Snaith Racing were more cautious about him when he reappeared four weeks ago – he was short of a gallop – and were only predicting a place.
He duly achieved that despite there being a big field and him being drawn on the wrong side of the course. But Bernard Fayd’Herbe was repeatedly baulked for a clear run, despite switching one way and then another, and might well have won with a clear passage. The stipes even had him in to explain his tactics!
This time he is drawn four, the going is slightly faster on this side and there are no fitness fears. “The horse is fine and he is ready,” reports Chris Snaith. “If he is good enough he will win.”
Good enough he certainly is and his form is far superior to those that have run. If there is a danger it is much more likely to come from one of the newcomers and the prime candidate is Crome Yellow, another by Trippi.
Andre Nel was complaining on Saturday that the bookies are pricing his two-year-olds too short. Possibly significantly, Aldo Domeyer’s mount has drifted from 33-10 to 5-1. “He is a nice big horse that needs ground,” says Nel who explains that, with his horses’ long-term future in mind, he is not revving them up to go in on debut – “I am trying to get them to place first time rather than win. I would like to give them a couple of runs in maidens before going on with them.”
Everything else in the race is in double figures, with the Snaith second string Magnificent Seven drifting from 8-1 to 11-1 and Greg Cheyne’s mount The Sun Also Rises similarly going out from 8-1 to 12-1.
Ma Forte looks another for the Snaiths in the first after putting up a cracking debut earlier in the month and Brandon May keeps the ride. It’s bit disturbing to see money coming for unraced stable companion Dynamic Diana (backed from 5-1 to 7-2) with Fayd’Herbe in the irons but experience may swing the balance Ma Forte’s way.
There has also been support for the stable’s newcomer Do It Again (16-10 to 12-10) in race two whereas Nel’s newcomer Hemingway has eased from 18-10 to 5-2. At this stage it’s a coin-toss but any further tightening would suggest that Do It Again is the one to be on.
By Michael Clower
