Super Saturday

An absolutely cracking days racing in store today, and the two races I will be looking at are the Irish 2000 Guineas from the Curragh and the Group 2 Temple Stakes at Haydock. Gleneagles looks to hold all the aces in the Irish heat, and should prove difficult to beat. In Haydock speedball Goldream will be looking to follow up his extremely impressive win on his return to action in the Palace House, but there are no shortage of potential challengers and it should prove to be an exciting race as always.

IRISH 2000 GUINEAS

Aidan O'Brien has dominated this event in recent years, providing 5 of the last 7 winners. Kingman broke his hold on the race last year for John Gosden, but Ballydoyle look to hold all the aces today with the winner of the English equivalent Gleneagles a very short priced favourite. Ivawood, 3rd at Newmarket 3 lengths behind the winner looks to try and turn the tables today but to be honest it is difficult to see him reversing the form.
The fact that Gleneagles is a best priced 2/5 means that unless you are a big hitter, the way to appraoch the race is to look for something at a big price that might run into a place. Tombelaine is an interesting contender given that he got to within 3/4 lengths of the favourite when they met last year on fast ground over 7f at Leopardstown. He failed to get his head in front for the rest of the season, but he reappeared with a decent win here on  heavy ground over 7f and the return to a mile and better ground should help his cause today with his sire First Defence's progeny showing a distinct preference for a decent surface. He could be one to run into a place at 18/1.

Selection: Tombelaine (e/w) 18/1


TEMPLE STAKES

A very open race this year with last years hero Hot Streak back to defend his crown. It is a huge pity that Sole Power won't be there but there are still plenty of challengers that will  be doing their utmost to wrestle the crown from the Kevin Ryan horse. He will be hard to beat however, with the good to soft ground in his favour and with the brilliant Oisin Murphy keeping the ride for Qatar Bloodstock who have three horses in the race this year.
The one I like at a price is Jack Dexter, for Northern raider Jim Goldie. This horse has been a standing dish in all the top sprint races over the last couple of years, and while he hasn't won since Nov 2013 he has a string of consistent efforts to his name. This year he has been improving with every run and he just failed over 6f at York in the Clipper stakes last time out beaten just 1/2 a length by shock winner Glass Office.His best form has come with cut in the ground and the going is described as good to soft today which is ideal. Jim Goldie's horses have been hitting form this week, and the evergreen Hawkeyethenoo ran an absolute cracker for him a couple of weeks ago in the Victoria Cup. At his current odds of 16/1 he looks to be worth a small each way interest in a wide open heat.

Selection: Jack Dexter (e/w) 16/1