Let It Rain At Newmarket

Saturday was a bit of a disaster. Unbreak My Heart came up short at Sandown and Magic Memories was pipped for a place. At Haydock, the rain never came and that put paid to the chances of both our bets there. You’d think I’d have learned my lesson regarding trusting weather forecasts but there’s a deluge forecast for Newmarket this week and if the rain arrives, there’s a 100/1 shot who will relish the muck.

We latched onto Vadream at decent odds when there was rain forecast on Lincoln Day at Donny (6f hvy) last year. She duly went on to win easily and she won again on soft a few weeks later on the Rowley course at Newmarket over the minimum trip, beating Live In The Dream by half a length.

She has failed to get her head in front in ten runs since but to be fair to her, only two of those runs came on soft ground. In October she was arguably a shade unlucky in an Ascot G3 on good ground, short of room and finishing just 1.75l behind the now 110 rated Annaf.

This season, her best run came when beat a head behind Seven Questions over 5f, again on good ground at Newmarket. She simply didn’t show up on her sole soft ground start this term at Haydock but there was a lot more to like about her excellent fifth in the Jubilee at Royal Ascot.

Charlie Fellowes’ daughter of Brazen Beau was 4.75L behind the winner Khaadem but she was only a couple of lengths behind Mill Stream (14/1) and if the rain comes and it turns bottomless, I reckon she could turn the tables on both of those rivals.

Jasour (10/1/), River Tiber (6/1) and Regional (9/1) won’t appreciate testing ground. Inisherin is a horse I rate highly and he has won on soft and good to firm. He looks a bit of a monster but apart from him, this looks a pretty open race to me. Vadream is capable of running to 110+ on bottomless ground, if the rain comes and she runs to that level, hopefully it’ll be good enough for a place.

July Cup Ante-Post Selection: Vadream e/w @ 100/1