Jef­fery Ross

Auld Burns is a sol­id form, time-hand­i­cap se­lec­tion for the list­ed, £30,000 Cocked Hat Stakes over eleven fur­longs of Good­wood this af­ter­noon, last of the Der­by tri­als but noth­ing like the race it used to be, when known as the Pre­dom­i­nate Stakes. Why do they make changes, in­ter­fere with tra­di­tion? Our great sport is rid­dled with in­ter­fer­ers who have bas­tardized tra­di­tion­al val­ues built up over more than two cen­turies but there again, bet­ting shop punter wont mind what the race name is, if Auld Burns jus­ti­fies favouritism for the pro­lif­ic Richard Han­non camp.

Auld Burns, a grand type, has im­proved con­sid­er­ably from two to three and sprang a sur­prise when Jamie Spencer-rid­den over ten fur­longs at New­mar­ket in April, beat­ing sta­ble com­pan­ion, Mea­sur­ing Time and Richard Hugh­es, be­fore fin­ish­ing a close third to Ge­nius Beast in the Clas­sic Tri­al at Sandown. Hugh­es rides to­day. Let's hope the 'long fel­la' doesn't play with pun­ters' mon­ey by be­ing over-con­fi­dent, as was the case on Mag­ic City at Wind­sor last night. What was the point of dis­ap­point­ing this nat­ur­al speed­ster over the min­i­mum trip by try­ing to 'an­chor' him and giv­ing Mag­ic City far too much to do? Richard Han­non jnr sub­se­quent­ly re­vealed that Hugh­es was 'teach­ing' Mag­ic City and that, in de­feat, "he learned some­thing!"

Did he re­al­ly? Couldn't they have 'worked' the 'Mag­ic' on home gal­lops? Hugh­es al­so part­ners sta­ble-com­pan­ion, Miss Me­di­a­tor in the Maid­en Stakes over sev­en fur­longs. There is on­ly one pos­si­ble TH dan­ger, Mis­rep­re­sent, mount of William Buick. Miss Me­di­a­tor rep­re­sents the clas­sic each-way bet. Many will have the fore­cast and oth­ers might well in­clude Han­non's charge in a win dou­ble with Poplin, one of sev­en de­c­la­ra­tions for the list­ed, £30,000 Fil­lies Stakes over ten fur­longs. Poplin gets her chance to be­come an Ep­som Oaks pos­si­ble but Blue Bunting is nigh on a 'cert' for that clas­sic on June 3rd, judged on her im­pres­sive 1000 Guineas suc­cess, one I'm look­ing for­ward to, im­mense­ly.

SE­LEC­TIONS

RACE 7 (#7) POPLIN

RACE 13 (#1) AULD BURNS

RACE 16 (#11) MISS ME­DI­A­TOR (e.w.)

RACE 19 (#1) ODIN'S RAVEN