By Tony Calvin - 15 April 2026
I sat Wednesday out from a punting perspective – just too many unknowns – and I must admit this 16-runner 3yo handicap (look out for an each-way changing NR) didn’t initially set the old punting pulses racing, either.
I have seen more attractive betting mediums that sixteen 3yos going at it, 13 of them making their 2026 bows, spread across the track.
Clearly, a hell of a lot will depend on how they have wintered and been readied for their reappearances, and I have not got the foggiest.
The early [4/1] favourite Treanmor is one of the three that have been seen in 2026, in his case two Dubai runs in January, and he has been gelded since, which is a fair call for a 2m euros son of Frankel.
But Godolphin tend to act quickly in dispensing with the nuts, whatever the pedigree and price tag, and I suppose this course and distance winner could be fairly handicapped off 93, but [4/1] looks plenty short enough in a race of this depth.
The others who have seen 2026 on the track are Rogue Supremacy and Sovereign Spell (who looks like being the one for early money and may even go off favourite).
The stalls are down the centre on Thursday, by the way, and the pace map below doesn’t give too many clues as to where the spearhead of speed will develop.
He may lack the potential of a Treanmor or William Haggas’ thrice-raced Albaydaa, but I thought the aforementioned Rogue Supremacy was interesting enough at the 28s and 25s each way, in first-time cheekpieces .
We know he is hard-fit, having raced four times on the all-weather this year and he has come down 5lb for those efforts, while running okay.
He has only raced three times for current trainer Archie Watson and he ran better than the bare form suggests at Newcastle last time and his usual pilot Luke Morris is back on here.
He was only beaten a neck in the Group 3 Sirenia Stakes at Kempton last September, so he certainly has the class to figure off a mark of 92. And he probably rates a very fair each way bet if you can get the 28s, five places, then I would crack on.
The 28s on other terms, and 25s, is okay, too. Small-stakes stuff, though.
I am going to have a very small dabble where I can. I may have to hit a shop to do so.
I say it every year. I have no idea why the Wood Ditton is on ITV.
Good luck to the clued-up/gossipy-type punters who can sort the wheat from the chaff in this newcomers’ race, but most won’t have a betting opinion and rightly so.
There is an 18-runner 7f handicap that ends the card and the races could easily have been swapped for terrestrial TV purposes, especially as they have the same sponsor.
I genuinely don’t get it.
No defectors at the overnight stage in this 6f Group, and Time For Sandals heads the market at [4/1].
Given the depth of the field, that strikes me as a touch too short.
Sure, the unpenalised Group 1 Commonwealth Cup winner has a leading form chance and has the services of Ryan Moore, but Quinault is actually rated 1lb (though he has to give the favourite 3lb) and trainer comments in a recent ATR website interview would concern me at the available odds.
Harry Eustace said: “She was supposed to go to Dubai but we have pulled the plug on that for various reasons. We haven’t had a flawless run in with her but more so the owners just felt they wouldn’t go and if they weren’t going then they didn’t want her to go. She’ll probably start off in the Abernant where she doesn’t carry a penalty for her Ascot win. I think the track at Newmarket will suit and she will obviously contest quite a lot of the big sprint races.”
That doesn’t scream positive to me about her chances here.
I probably won’t get involved here but I thought Elmonjed was fairly enough priced at a 18s and four places combo.
With a proviso.
He started off last season with a fourth to stablemate More Thunder off 96 in a 6f handicap at this meeting and ended up being 10lb higher after winning a 6f Listed race at York on his final start, and there could be more to come from him as a relatively lightly-raced 5yo.
But his back-end progress came when a tongue-tie and cheekpieces were applied – and both are absent here.
That’d be a fair nagging doubt for me. Perhaps this is a stepping stone to another assignment.
Quinault looks a very solid proposition at 10s, but I’ll sit this out in all probability.
Hawk Mountain was the chosen one of the three Aidan O’Brien entries, and he heads the market at [9/4].
But only just, as Godolphin’s unbeaten Hidden Force is next up at [11/4].
Some firms can’t split them, though.
As at 6pm on Wednesday they certainly could, though. Hidden Force was into 7/4 and Hawk Mountain out to 4s and set to get bigger.
The Craven used to be an eagerly-awaited prep trial ahead of the Guineas, and it still has huge relevance for the Classic, but 2026 really is holding out for a hero in the early 3yo miling division.
The fact that Bow Echo, a length winner of the Royal Lodge, heads the 2,000 Guineas betting at between [5/2] and 3s tells me that the market could be in for a massive shake-up if a horse puts their hand up.
Of course that could be the 116-rated Hawk Mountain, winner of the Group 1 Futurity in heavy ground, or Hidden Force but I am not so sure.
I thought Hankelow was visually impressive when a dominant winner of the Autumn Stakes here last season, having previously been mugged on the line when beaten a nose by Avicenna at Doncaster, and I don’t mind his chances at 5s.
But whether or not he is going to better over further later in the season is very much in my mind, though his trainer has said he has shown a lot more speed in his homework in the past three weeks.
However, it is really disappointing to read Burke saying “he’s a horse who would be better with a little bit of cut in the ground but if it’s safe, we’ll let him take his chance.”
Come on, ffs.
The Gosdens, who are going well and had a double at Newmarket on Wednesday, may have their Oxagon more revved up for this, with the first-time cheekpieces on.
He is actually the second highest-rated horse in here behind Hawk Mountain on his Dewhurst fifth – his Champagne Stakes second to Puerto Rico wasn’t too shoddy either – and you can forgive him his run behind the O’Brien colt in heavy ground at Doncaster on his seasonal sign-off.
His half-brother Appointed One also won in first-time cheekpieces, and he’d be my number one betting lean at a general 10s here (two firms are going 10s, three places – that’s obviously a very good combo if you can access).
But I have backed him yet?
No (basically because I can’t get hold of that 10s, three places…).
I’ll be adding to this column tomorrow morning.
The Thursday ITV fields have held up remarkably well at the overnight stage.
We have gone from 19 to 16 in the opening 6f handicap at 1.50pm.
I had never seen a smaller five-day field for the Wood Ditton at 2.25pm, but we only lost one at the overnight stage, so 10 go here.
All 14 were confirmed in the Abernant at 3pm.
We lost three in the Craven at 3.35pm, so 10 down to 7 there, with Aidan O’Brien relying on Hawk Mountain from his three five-day entries. Lost Signal wasn’t confirmed (runs on Tuesday).
GOING: Good
GOING STICK: 6.9, Wednesday 6am
Wednesday course update: Forecast: Dry and cloudy morning before turning to an afternoon of sunny spells with the threat of a light shower (1mm).
Watering: 15mm applied on Tuesday / Wednesday. Further 15mm applied on Friday / Saturday; 5mm applied on Monday; 4mm applied on Tuesday evening
Yr.no forecast (8.30am Wednesday); 1.3mm Wednesday, 0.2mm Thursday
Archie Watson cheekpieces; Rogue Supremacy, 1.50pm; 27-303 (since 2017)
Muir and Grassick cheekpieces; Enricher, 1.50pm 3-23 (2021)
John and Thady Gosden cheekpieces; Oxagon, 3.35pm 13-135 (2021)
1.50pm: Boston Dan (drawn 14), Reciprocated (12), Sir Alfie (13), Advertised (7), Lebron Power (9), Sovereign Spell (4), Song Of The Clyde (15), Pilu (16), Albaydaa (2), Enricher (1), Silent Applause (5)
2.25pm: All unraced, no pace map
3pm: Crestofdistinction (10), Quinault (5), Aspect Island (7), Diligent Harry? (14), Washington Heights (6)
3.35pm: Commander’s Intent (prom – 4), Hankelow (6), Oxagon (prom – 1), Venetian Prince (7), Hawk Mountain (5)
Good: Tom Clover (very small sample but very good), Andrew Balding (winners on Tuesday and Wednesday), Clive Cox (small sample), Charlie Appleby (two odds-on winners on Tuesday), John and Thady Gosden (two winners on Wednesday), Richard and Peter Fahey, Roger Teal (small sample), Kevin Philippart De Foy (small sample), Marco Botti (and a 16-1 winner on Wednesday as well), Harry Eustace (small sample), Roger Varian (two winners; five runners)
Fair: William Haggas (not great for him though a 14-1 winner on Wednesday), Stuart Williams (just the 50-1 winner on Wednesday), George Scott, Karl Burke (winner on Monday, and winners on Wednesday), Aidan O’Brien (fair/good – winners but plenty of runners), Richard Hannon, Richard Hughes (15-2 winner on Tuesday and narrow second on Wednesday), James Owen (winner on Monday), Grant Tuer (fair/good), John Ryan (small sample, no winners), Kevin Ryan, Archie Watson
Moderate: Harry Charlton, Charlie Pike (one near-miss), Muir and Grassick (small sample so probably harsh), Jack Channon, David O’Meara (winner on Wednesday)
Don’t know: Jane Chapple-Hyam (one winner; five runners), David Menuisier, Henry Candy (first runner of season)
1.50pm Newmarket – 16-runner 3yo 6f handicap sets the ITV ball rolling I sat Wednesday…
Constitution Hill in at Newbury on Saturday – and now out as Henderson rules him…
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