Andy Holding has one tip as well as some pointers for today's racing at Dieppe.
10:40 Dieppe
A two-year-old claimer hard to assess with so many unknown quantities, but at least we know that SWEET DAMIANA (best price 5-2) can operate to a reasonable level and that valuable experience she gained on debut Chantilly 13 days ago could prove the deciding factor.
Not particularly fancied at the Oise-based track, hence the 40-1 starting price, the daughter of Pomellato quickly stuck another nought on the end of her chances of winning by dwelling badly in the stalls and, by the time the field had reached the halfway point, it just became a question of educating her for another day. It was encouraging, however, to witness her come home with a degree of purpose inside the final two furlongs and if she hadn’t proceeded to hang left towards the far side fence, she may have well bettered her fifth-place finish. Form-wise, the race in question couldn’t have worked out any better during the early part of the campaign with the runner-up and fourth winning since and with the likelihood of her knowing a good bit more in all departments second time around, Mathieu Boutin’s filly looks sure to go well in a race that lacks any great strength in depth.
Off Galavanting was in behind Sweet Damiana at Chantilly and although it’s dangerous to suggest he’s got little chance of turning the form around, he will clearly need to find more. Whether the first-time headgear elicits some sort of improvement remains to be seen, but for now, maybe a place is the best the son of Prince Of Lir can hope for. On the same card, La Neva finished a respectable seventh in a maiden over the same C&D and as she took on technically a better class of opponent, there’s every chance she will be competitive in this lower grade.
Of the newcomers, Pammy Buchanan and Recuerdame appear to be the most fancied according to the early prices and are both worth monitoring. The latter, in particular, hails from a stable who have already struck twice with juveniles so far this season, so it would be foolish not to take the chances of the Gutaifan filly very seriously.
