Horse Racing Preview: Will Another Great St Wilfrid Favorite Win?
Author:
Roy Brindley
There are seven race meetings scheduled to take place across the UK on Saturday. In terms of prestige, Newbury’s Group 3 BetVictor Geoffrey Freer Stakes is the best race of the day. A traditional stepping-stone for the final classic race of the season, the St Leger, both Sixties Icon and Silver Patriarch won this contest before taking Doncaster’s showpiece race.
Hukum pulls ahead of his rivals to win the 2020 Geoffrey Freer Stakes. Can he win the race for a second year on Saturday?
In 2021, the big race double must be considered unlikely. Only one three-year-old – the age horses are eligible to run in the St Leger – contests Saturday’s BetVictor Geoffrey Freer Stakes. That horse, Recovery Run, has been given a dismissive 10/1 quote by the sponsors.
Heading the betting is the Owen Burrows’ trained Hukum who won this race in 2020 and went on to finish fifth in the St Leger. A winner last time out in a York Group 3 contest, he will be very difficult to beat and may be an odds-on shot at the off.
Punters Love Ripon’s Most Valuable Race
In terms of popularity, Ripon’s Great St Wilfrid Handicap, sponsored by William Hill for over 25-years, will be hard to match. Named after the patron saint of Ripon, this is the most valuable race staged at the North Yorkshire racecourse. It always attracts a bumper field and is a firm favorite with punters.
That is unsurprising as favorites have an outstanding record in this race. The market leader has prevailed in half of the last ten editions of Great St Wilfred. A single-point level-stake bet placed on the last ten favorites would have shown a 19.5-point profit.
No one is a bigger fan of the Great St Wilfrid than trainer David O’Meara. The York-based handler has won this race three times in the past ten years. On each occasion jockey Daniel Tudhope has been in the saddle.
O’Meara runs two horses in the race on Saturday: rank-outsider Muscika and Soul Seeker who is towards the top of the betting. The latter has run 12 times for his trainer this year and has won his last two starts. Last time out, at York, he scored under jump jockey Tom Scudamore carrying a burdensome 11-stone seven-pounds.
With Scudamore returning to the national hunt sphere and Tudhope engaged in the Grade 1 Mr. Dee Stakes in Arlington Park, Chicago, on Sunday, apprentice Sean Kirrane has been booked to ride Soul Seeker.
Currie Cooking Up More Winners?
Flat racing’s only evening meeting comes from Bath where the seven-race card consist of six handicap races, four of which are five-furlong dashes. After racing, what is sure to be a huge holiday crowd, can enjoy a party atmosphere. There are several scheduled post-race festivities that accompany what is the track’s popular annual Ladies Day.
On the track Nichola Currie, the unlikely star of last weekend’s Shergar Cup is one of the leading ladies on show.
Looking for a jockey to follow? A ￡1 level stakes SP bet on all @NicolaCurrie22 rides over the past seven days (five winners) would have given you a ￡36.75 profit! pic.twitter.com/6ZPunz3yUG
— Sports & Betting History (@CDCHistory) August 12, 2021
The Scottish jockey rode two winners and an additional two placed horses in the Ascot competition. And she has been in irresistible form since, riding yet more winners including a 22/1 scorer at Kempton on Wednesday. Currie has six mounts during Bath’s twilight meeting where she has strong chances aboard Enduring in the 5.10pm, Oakenshield in the 6.15pm and Outrage in the 8.15pm.
