Poet Could Surprise At Haydock

I enhanced my superb strike rate at picking non runners with Haulani last time and I am praying that this selection at least gets to the track! There is nothing worse than studying the form, doing a write up and then waking up the next day to see the horse has been scratched. It is frustrating to say the least, but that is racing and sometimes you just have to suck it up.

Stott has 4 top 4 finishes from 7 rides for Herrington.

Tomorrow I am backing one for small stakes at huge odds at Haydock and I think this 4yo could bounce back to form returned to 10f on turf. The forecast rain shouldn’t be too much of a worry for this 4yo son of Poet’s Voice, once it doesn’t turn bottomless, and I think Street Poet could produce an improved performance for Michael Herrington with in form Kevin Stott up for the first time.

Herrington has been struggling for winners this season but the yard has been showing signs of returning to form in recent weeks. Commander Kirkup ran a cracker for him to grab 3rd at odds of 33/1 on Friday night, and he also had Kamra (11/1) and Mishaal (25/1) run big races for him in the last couple of weeks. He hasn’t visited the winner’s enclosure since March, but I get the feeling that it will be sooner rather than later that he gets that winning feeling again.

Street Poet has been well beaten on all three starts for this stable since joining from the Stoute yard, but he has either been running at the wrong trip or on the wrong surface and it looks as though he has his optimum conditions for the first time for Herrington at Haydock. Tom Eaves made plenty of use of him last time at Newcastle and it was no surprise to see him fade badly in the closing stages.

He led or raced very prominently on both previous runs for this yard too, and I am hoping that more patient tactics are used at Haydock. He is drawn out in stall 13, so hopefully he is dropped in and ridden with a bit of restraint.  He remains a maiden after nine career starts, but he showed enough ability to suggest he was up to winning a handicap when he was trained by Sir Michael Stoute.

He earned an official rating of 71 after his three maiden runs for Stoute, and his best effort by far came on his handicap debut at Epsom (10f gd) last September. He ran a cracker to finish 2nd, beaten less than a length, and the handicapper took a dim view raising him to 75. He again ran well off his revised mark when 11f seemed to stretch him on good to soft ground at Goodwood, leading 2f out but fading late on to finish 5th, beaten just over 2L.

The form of those two runs would give him every chance here, and the handicapper has relented and eased him to a mark of 65. That is a full 10lb below the rating off which he ran so well at Goodwood and 6lb lower than his close 2nd at Epsom. Kevin Stott has achieved top 4 finishes on 4 of 7 rides for Herrington and he has ridden 6 winners in the past fortnight. Hopefully he can add to that tally at Haydock, and at odds of 33/1 I think Street Poet could be worth chancing each way in a wide open race.

STEVOS’ SELECTION: 18.30 HAYDOCK: STREET POET E/W @ 33/1