TONY CALVIN: MARVELMAN stands out at 10/1 in the early Sprint Cup five-day betting

3.40pm Haydock – 10/1 Marvelman stands out here

There is no form stand-out in this Group 1 Betfair Sprint Cup, but I think Marvelman is the best bet in the race at a current 10/1 in a few places (five in fact).

I appreciate he appears to have been 16s and 14s very early on Monday afternoon after the five-day decs were known – whether they were stale, leftover-prices from the weekend/early this morning when markets should have been closed while confirmations were made pre-midday, I am not so sure – but let’s live in the real world here and concentrate on generally available prices.

And the 10s in five places on the Oddschecker grid, as this goes live at 1.44pm on Monday, looks plenty juicy enough.

I can see him going off favourite at the weekend, or at least shortening up a fair bit.

It looks sure to be soft at a bare minimum on Haydock on Saturday judging from the current going and forecast (I am not sure what the ground will ride like there after three day’s of racing, though they will try to keep a fresh strip back, I imagine) and that will suit Marvelman, all right.

Though perhaps we shouldn’t go overboard on the ground.

Officially, he ran well twice on heavy as a 2yo and won the Park Stakes by nearly 4 lengths at Doncaster last season (he is still in that early-closer this term on September 12) on soft.

But Timeform only having hm running on heavy once – and they called the Doncaster ground as good.

However, what you cannot deny.argue about is that he ran a screamer when third in the City Of York Stakes last time, making the running in that 7f contest and sticking on remarkably well to finish third to proper horses like Notable Speech and Lake Forest, and forcing the pace over 6f in testing conditions must surely suit.

That York run on good to soft was a career-best and that makes him the joint second highest-rated  horse in here on a mark of 117, just 2lb behind Almeraq.

Any 10s or 9s looks very tempting, even for an ante-post denier like myself.

I have had to make do with 9s.

Four of these are in a 6f Listed race at York on Sunday (see below).

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Sunday

There are currently 27 in Haydock’s Group 1 Sprint Cup.

It looks set to be soft/heavy there, and it’s a three-day meeting, too.

It is 6s the field if you are allowed to shop around, with Almeraq the favourite (as low as 7/2 elsewhere).

Monday

We are now down to 13 five-day entries at Haydock, with no Aidan O’Brien representative. Almeraq is now 10/3 tops.

Constitution Hill is one of 14 entries for the September Stakes at Kempton, and he faces several tasty 110+ opposition, led by the 124-rated Bay City Roller.

And remember Constitution Hill is rated only 101 on the Flat – so far.

He potentially has a very big job on here, as I imagine his odds will reflect when the race is priced up (he is 12s with the first firm up).

COURSE DETAILS

HAYDOCK (three day meeting)

GOING : Soft, good to soft in places

Rails: All races will be run on the Inside course. All rail has been moved into fresh lines since August 8th racing and the home-straight returns to full width.

MONDAY COURSE UPDATE: 5mm Wednesday. 10mm Thursday. 5mm Friday. 10mm Saturday. 4mm Sunday. Showers 1-2mm Monday morning clear to a dry afternoon and dry Tuesday. Rain on Wednesday. Mostly dry Thursday. Daily max temperature 20°C

WATERING:  Doubt it’ll be required…

Weather (2pm Monday morning): 1mm for rest of Monday?; 1mm Tuesday; 4.5mm Wednesday; 5.1mm Thursday; 9.1mm Friday; 4.4mm Saturday (likely to fluctuate through week)

KEMPTON (two day meeting)

GOING : Standard to slow

Stalls: Inside

SUNDAY COURSE UPDATE: Broken Showers

WATERING: 20mm of water will be applied before racing to help consolidate and reduce the surface temperature of the synthetic track.

Weather: light showers all week

ASCOT (two day meeting)

Following track renovations since the last meeting recovery has been a little slow and there are some patches of young grass with a less dense sward.

GOING : Good to firm, good in places

Going Stick: Straight: 7.7. Round: 6.8. Soil Moisture: 38%. Readings taken on Friday 28th August at 8am

MONDAY COURSE UPDATE: 0.2mm recorded during the past 24 hours to 8.30am on Monday. 8mm rain recorded through the past 7 days. An occasional shower is possible today. Looking generally dry through to Thursday when an occasional shower is possible through to Friday. Saturday now looks to be dry. For access to our live weather station and for the latest Going info please go to www.ascot.com/thegoing

WATERING:  None specified

Weather: light showers all week (3,5mm Wednesday)

DOUBLE ENTRIES (far too many of them again)

1.25pm Haydock:  The Lost King, Fondo Blanco, Extremely Zain

NB: Colori Forever and Needle Match are in an early-closer next week

1.40pm Ascot: Lord Britain, Bobby Bennu, Brian, Collecting Coin, Divine Libra, Fondo Blanco, Garfield Shadow, He’s A Monster, Hickory, Houquetot, Humam, Northern Express, Pinatubo’s Legacy, Superposition, Sword, The Fingal Raven, Witch Hunter

1.55pm Haydock: Burning Up (Thursday entry), Camarda Rc (Thursday), First Law (Thursday), Narjoo (Thursday)

NB: Dover Street is in an early-closer next week

2.10pm Ascot: Ancestor, Besieged, Bridge Of Eagles, Glory Road, Guildmaster, Kahin, Lopeo, Lord d’Or, Pierre Grosse,

2.30pm Haydock: Ancestor, Bridge Of Eagles, Glory Road, Guildmaster, Lopeo, Pierre Grosse,

2.50pm Kempton: Paddy The Squire

3.05pm Haydock: Paddy The Squire

3.20pm Kempton: Breakdancer, Exposure, Final Night, Lake Como, Lord Britain, Port Road, The Lost King, Victory Ace, Warrior Mode (Thursday entry), Witch Hunter, Zoffandia (Thursday)

3.40pm Haydock: Aramram, Double Rush, Kind Of Blue, Division

NB: American Affair, Comanche Brave, Marvelman, Mitbaahy, Coppull and Division are in early-closers next week